THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 

DR.  AND  MRS.  ELMER  BELT 


%^a^a^a.      J^.      J-^^^^^e^>-^ 


THE    LIFE 


OP 


FLORENCE    NIGHTINGALE 


MISS    NIGHTINGALE. 
{From  the  bust  at  Claydon.) 


[Frottiispi 


THE   LIFE 


OF 


FLORENCE   NIGHTINGALE 


SARAH    A.   TOOLEY 


AUTHOR  OF   "PERSONAL   LIFE   OF  QUEEN   VICTORIA,"    "LIFE   OF  QUEEN 
ALEXANDRA,"   "ROYAL  PALACES  AND  THEIR   MEMORIES,"  ETC.,   ETC. 


WITH  22  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 
THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON 
S.  H.  BOUSFIELD  &  CO.,  Ltd.,  12,  Portugal  Street,  W.C. 

1905 


Printed  by  Hazell,   Watson  &  Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Aylesbury,  England. 


Ac 

s 

V 


TO 

THE    LADY   HERBERT   OF   LEA 

THE  LIFE-LONG  FRIEND  OF 

FLORENCE    NIGHTINGALE 

THIS  BOOK 
IS   BY   PERMISSION 

j5)et)icateD 


PREFACE 


THE  writing  of  the  Life  of  Florence  Nightingale 
was  undertaken  with  the  object  of  marking 
the  jubilee  of  the  illustrious  heroine  who  left  London 
on  October  2ist,  1854,  with  a  band  of  thirty-eight 
nurses  for  service  in  the  Crimean  War.  Her 
heroic  labours  on  behalf  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers  have  made  her  name  a  household  word 
in  every  part  of  the  British  Empire,  and  it 
is  a  matter  for  national  congratulation  that  Miss 
Nightingale  has  lived  to  celebrate  such  a  memorable 
anniversary. 

A  striking  proof  of  the  honour  in  which  her 
name  is  held  by  the  rising  generation  was  given 
a  short  time  ago,  when  the  editor  of  The  GirVs  Realm 
took  the  votes  of  his  readers  as  to  the  most  popular 
heroine  in  modern    history.     Fourteen  names  were 


viii  PREFACE 

submitted,  and  of  the  300,000  votes  given,  120,776 

were  for  Florence    Nightingale. 

No  trouble  has  been  spared  to   make  the   book 

as   accurate    and    complete  as    possible,    and    when 

writing  it   I   spent   several    months    in  the  vicinity 

of  Miss    Nightingale's    early  homes,    and    received 

much    kind  assistance    from    people    of    all    classes 

acquainted  with  her.     In  particular  I  would  thank 

Sir  Edmund  Verney  for  permission  to  publish  the 

picture   of    the    late    Lady    Verney    and   views    of 

Claydon  ;    Lady   Herbert    of  Lea  for  portraits    of 

herself  and    Lord    Herbert  ;    Pastor   Disselhoff  of 

Kaiserswerth  for  the  portrait  of  Pastor  Fliedner  and 

some  recollections  of  Miss  Nightingale's  training  in 

that    institution  ;    and    Sister    Mary    Aloysius    for 

memories  of  her  work  at  Scutari  Hospital.     I  was 

also  greatly  assisted  by  the  facilities  afforded  by  Mr. 

Crowther,  Librarian  of  the  Public  Library,  Derby,  for 

studying  the  valuable  collection  of  material  relating 

to    Miss    Nightingale   which   was  presented    to   the 

Library  by  His  Grace  the  late  Duke  of  Devonshire. 

SARAH  A.  TOOLEY, 
October,  1904. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I 
BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY 

PAGE 

Birth  at  Florence — Shore  Ancestry — Peter  Nightingale  of  Lea 

— Florence  Nightingale's  Parents I 

CHAPTER    II 

EARLIEST  ASSOCIATIONS 

Lea  Hall  first  English  Home — Neighbourhood  of  Babington 

Plot— Dethick  Church 8 

CHAPTER    III 

LEA   HURST 

Removal  to  Lea  Hurst — Description  of  the  House — Florence 

Nightingale's  Crimean  Carriage  preserved  there        »        .       15 

CHAPTER    IV 

THE  DAYS  OF  CHILDHOOD 

Romantic  Journeys  from  Lea  Hurst  to  Embley  Park — George 
Eliot  Associations — First  Patient — Love  of  Animals  and 
Flowers — Early  Education 22 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    V 
THE  SQUIRES  DAUGHTER 

PAGE 

An  Accomplished  Girl— An  Angel  in  the  Hemes  of  the  Poor- 
Children's  "Feast  Day"  at  Lea  Hurst— Her  Bible-Class 
for  Girls— Interests  at  Embley— Society  Life— Longing 
for  a  Vocation— Meets  Elizabeth  Fry — Studies  Hospital 
Nursing— Decides  to  go  to  Kaiserswerth    ....      38 

CHAPTER    VI 

FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALES  ALMA   MATER  AND  ITS 
FOUNDER 

Enrolled  a  Deaconess  at  Kaiserswerth — Paster  Fliedner— His 
Early  Life — Becomes  Pastor  at  Kaiserswerth — Interest  in 
Prison  Reform — Starts  a  Small  Penitentiary  for  Discharged 
Female  Prisoners — Founds  a  School  and  the  Deaconess 
Hospital— Rules  for  Deaconesses— Marvellous  Extension 
of  his  Work—His  Death— Miss  Nightingale's  Tribute        .       54 

CHAPTER    Vn 

ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH :    A    PLEA   FOR    DEACONESSES 

An  Interesting  Letter — Description  of  Miss  Nightingale  when 
she  entered  Kaiserswerth— Testimonies  to  her  Popularity 
— Impressive  Farewell  to  Pastor  Fliedner  ,        ,        .       68 

CHAPTER    VIII 

A   PERIOD  OF  WAITING 

Visits  the  Sisters  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  in  Paris— Illness- 
Resumes  Old  Life  at  Lea  Hurst  and  Embley — Interest  in 
John  Smedley's  System  of  Hydropathy— Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Sidney  Herbert's  Philanthropies — Work  at  Harley  Street 
Home  for  Sick  Governesses — Illness  and  Return  Home    .       80 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER    IX 
SIDNEY,   LORD  HERBERT  OF  LEA 

PAGE 

Gladstone  on  Lord  Herbert — Early  Life  of  Lord  Herbert — 
His  Mother — College  Career — Enters  Public  Life — As 
Secretary  for  War — Benevolent  Work  at  Salisbury — Lady 
Herbert — Friendship  with  Florence  Nightingale — Again 
Secretary  for  War 87 

CHAPTER    X 

THE   CRIMEAN  WAR  AND  CALL    TO  SERVICE 

Tribute  to  Florence  Nightingale  by  the  Countess  of  Lovelace 
—Outbreak  of  the  Crimean  War — Distressing  Condition 
of  the  Sick  and  Wounded— Mr.  W.  H.  Russell's  Letters 
to  The  Ti??ies— Call  for  Women  Nurses — Mr.  Sidney 
Herbert's  Letter  to  Miss  Nightingale— She  offers  her 
Services 94 

CHAPTER    XI 

PREPARATION  AND  DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI 

Public  Curiosity  Aroused — Description  of  Miss  Nightingale  in 
the  Press — Criticism — She  selects  Thirty-Eight  Nurses — 
Departure  of  the  ''Angel  Band" — Enthusiasm  of  Boulogne 
Fishervvomen — Arrival  at  Scutari no 

CHAPTER    XII 

THE  LADY-IN-CHIEF 

The  Barrack  Hospital — Overwhelming  Numbers  of  Sick  and 
Wounded — General  Disorder — Florence  Nightingale's 
"  Commanding  Genius  " — The  Lady  with  the  Brain — The 
Nurses'  Tower— Influence  over  Men  in  Authority     .         .123 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    XIII 
AT  WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL 

PAGE 

An  Appalling  Task—Stories  of  Florence  Nightingale's  Interest 
in  the  Soldiers — Lack  of  Necessaries  for  the  Wounded — 
Establishes  an  Invalids'  Kitchen  and  a  Laundry— Cares  for 
the  Soldiers'  Wives — Religious  Fanatics — Letter  from 
Queen  Victoria — Christmas  at  Scutari      .        .        .        .140 


CHAPTER    XIV 

GRAPPLING   WITH  CHOLERA   AND  FEVER 

Florence  Nightingale  describes  the  Hardships  of  the  Soldiers 
— Arrival  of  Fifty  More  Nurses — Memories  of  Sister 
Mary  Aloysius — The  Cholera  Scourge       ....     160 


CHAPTER    XV 

TIMELY  HELP 

Lavish  Gifts  for  the  Soldiers — The  Times  Fund — The  Times 
Commissioner  visits  Scutari — His  Description  of  Miss 
Nightingale — Arrival  of  M.  Soyer,  the  Famous  Chef— He. 
Describes  Miss  Nightingale        .        .        ,        .        »        •    I7l 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE  ANGEL  OF  DEATH 

Death  of  Seven  Surgeons  at  Scutari— The  First  of  the  "  Angel 
Band  "  Stricken— Deaths  of  Miss  Smythe,  Sister  Winifred, 
and  Sister  Mary  Elizabeth — Touching  Verses  by  an 
Orderly 183 


CONTENTS  xiu 

CHAPTER    XVII 

SAILS  FOR   THE  CRIMEA   AND   GOES   UNDER  FIRE 

PAGE 

On  Board  the  Robert  Loive-Sioxy  of  a  Sick  Soldier— Visit  to 
the  Camp  Hospitals-Sees  Sebastopol  from  the  Trenches 
—Recognised  and  Cheered  by  the  Soldiers-Adventurous 
Ride  Back 


192 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

STRICKEN  BY  FEVER 

Continued  Visitation  of  Hospitals— Sudden  Illness- Conveyed 
to  Sanatorium— Visit  of  Lord  Raglan— Convalescence- 
Accepts  Offer  of  Lord  Ward's  Yacht— Returns  to  Scutari 
—Memorial  to  Fallen  Heroes     ...•«•     204 


CHAPTER    XIX 

CLOSE    OF   THE   WAR 

Fall  of  Sebastopol— The  Nightingale  Hospital  Fund- A 
Carriage  Accident— Last  Months  in  the  Crimea— "The 
Nightingale  Cross  "—Presents  from  Queen  Victoria  and 
the  Sultan— Sails  for  Home 217 


CHAPTER    XX 

THE  RETURN  OF  THE  HEROINE 

Arrives  Secretly  at  Lea  Hurst— The  Object  of  Many  Congratu- 
lations—Presentations—Received by  Queen  Victoria  at 
Balmoral— Prepares  Statement  of  "  Voluntary  Gifts  "— 
Tribute  to  Lord  Raglan      ...»•••    ^39 


xiv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    XXI 
THE  SOLDIERS    FRIEND  AT   HOME 

PACE 

111  Health — Unremitting  Toil— Founds  Nightingale  Training 
School  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital — Army  Reform— Death 
of  Lord  Herbert  of  Lea — Palmerston  and  Gladstone 
pay  Tributes  to  Miss  Nightingale— Interesting  Letters — 
Advises  in  American  War  and  Franco-German  War  »    252 


CHAPTER    XXn 

WISDOM  FROM  THE  QUEEN  OF  NURSES 

Literary  Activity — N'otes  07t  Hospitals — Notes  on  Nursing — 
Hints  for  the  Amateur  Nurse — Interest  in  the  Army  in 
India — Writings  on  Indian  Reforms  ....  275 


CHAPTER    XXHI 

THE  NURSING   OF  THE  SICK  POOR 

Origin  of  the  Liverpool  Home  and  Training  School — Interest 
in  the  Sick  Paupers — "  Una  and  the  Lion''  a  Tribute  to 
Sister  Agnes  Jones — Letter  to  Miss  Florence  Lees — Plea 
for  a  Home  for  Nurses — On  the  Question  of  Paid  Nurses 
— Queen  Victoria's  Jubilee  Nursing  Institute — Rules  for 
-    Probationers 298 


CHAPTER    XXIV 

LATER    YEARS 

The  Nightingale  Home — Rules  for  Probationers — Deaths  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nightingale — Death  of  Lady  Verney — 
Continues    to    Visit    Claydon — Health    Crusade — Rural 


CONTENTS  XV 

PAGE 

Hygiene — A  Letter  to  Mothers — Introduces  Village 
Missioners — Village  Sanitation  in  India — Tiie  Diamond 
Jubilee — Balaclava  Dinner 314 

CHAPTER    XXV 

AT  EVENTIDE 

Miss  Nightingale  To-day — Her  Interest  in  Passing  Events — 
Recent  Letter  to  Derbyshire  Nurses — Celebrates  Eighty- 
fourth  Birthday — King  Confers  Dignity  of  a  Lady  of 
Grace — Summary  of  her  Noble  Life 338 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


MISS  NIGHTINGALE  {From  the  bust  at  Claydon) 


Fro7itispiece 
facing 


PAGE 

i6 


facmg 


32 
48 

55 
80 
96 

125 

128 


LEA   HURST,   DERBYSHIRE 

EMBLEY   PARK,    HAMPSHIRE  .  .  c  . 

MISS  NIGHTINGALE    {Ffom  a  drawing)   . 

PASTOR   FLIEDNER 

SIR   WILLIAM   HOWARD   RUSSELL 

SIDNEY,    LORD   HERBERT  OF   LEA 

MR.    PUNCH'S  CARTOON    OF    "THE   LADY-BIRDS " 

THE   BARRACK    HOSPITAL   AT   SCUTARI 

BOULOGNE    FISHERWOMEN    CARRYING    THE    LUGGAGE    OF    MISS 

NIGHTINGALE  AND  HER  NURSES  .  .  .  facing 

THE     LADY-IN-CHIEF     IN     HER     QUARTERS     AT     THE    BARRACK 

HOSPITAL 133 

MISS  NIGHTINGALE   IN   THE   HOSPITAL   AT   SCUTARI    .        faciflg      1 44 

MISS    NIGHTINGALE    AND    THE    DYING    SOLDIER — A    SCENE    AT 
SCUTARI   HOSPITAL   WITNESSED   BY   M.    SOYER      .        facing 

LADY   HERBERT  OF   LEA „ 

FLORENCE   NIGHTINGALE   AS  A   GIRL  ....  „ 

THE   NIGHTINGALE  JEWEL  ....  .  . 

THE  CARRIAGE  USED  BY  MISS  NIGHTINGALE  IN  THE  CRIMEA  fadng 

MISS  NIGHTINGALE  AFTER  HER  RETURN  FROM  THE  CRIMEA  ,, 

THE   LATE  LADY   VERNE Y ,, 

CLAYDON   HOUSE,   THE   SEAT   OF   SIR   EDMUND  VERNEY  „ 
SPECIMEN   OF   MISS   NIGHTINGALE'S   HANDWRITING      . 

MISS  NIGHTINGALE'S   OLD   ROOM   AT   CLAYDON  .  .  „ 

xvi 


176 
192 
208 

237 
240 
272 
288 
320 

335 
336 


THE    LIFE    OF 

FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 


CHAPTER    I 

BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY 

Birth  at   Florence — Shore   Ancestry —Peter  Nightingale   of  Lea — 
Florence  Nightingale's  Parents. 

We  are  born  into  life — it  is  sweet,  it  is  strange, 
We  lie  still  on  the  knee  of  a  mild  mystery 

Which  smiles  with  a  change; 
But  we  doubt  not  of  changes,  we  know  not  of  spaces, 
The  heavens  seem  as  near  as  our  own  mother's  face  is. 
And  we  think  we  could  touch  all  the  stars  that  we  see. 

Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning. 

Thought  and    deed,    not   pedigree,    are    the    passports   to    enduring 
fame. — General  Skobeleff. 

AT  a  dinner  given  to  the  military  and  naval 
officers  who  had  served  in  the  Crimean 
War,  it  was  suggested  that  each  guest  should 
write  on  a  slip  of  paper  the  name  of  the  person 
whose    services    during    the    late    campaign    would 

I 


2  LIFE   OF  FLORENCE   NIGHTINGALE 

be  longest  remembered  by  posterity.  When  the 
papers  were  examined,  each  bore  the  same  name 
— *'  Florence   Nightingale." 

The  prophecy  is  fulfilled  to-day,  for  though 
barely  fifty  years  have  passed  since  the  joy-bells 
throughout  the  land  proclaimed  the  fall  of  Sebas- 
topol,  the  majority  of  people  would  hesitate  if 
asked  to  name  the  generals  of  the  Allied  Armies, 
while  no  one  would  be  at  a  loss  to  tell  who  was 
the  heroine  of  the  Crimea.  Her  deeds  of  love  and 
sacrifice  sank  deep  into  the  nation's  heart,  for  they 
were  above  the  strife  of  party  and  the  clash  of  arms. 
While  Death  has  struck  name  after  name  from  the 
nation's  roll  of  the  great  and  famous,  our  heroine 
lives  in  venerated  age  to  shed  the  lustre  of  her 
name  upon  a  new  century. 

Florence  Nightingale  was  born  on  May  I2th, 
1820,  at  the  Villa  Colombaia  near  Florence,  where 
her  parents,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Shore  Nightin- 
gale, of  Lea,  Derbyshire,  were  staying. 

''What  name  should  be  given  to  the  baby  girl 
born  so  far  away  from  her  English  home  } "  queried 
her  parents,  and  with  mutual  consent  they  decided 
to  call  her  "  Florence,"  after  that  fair  city  of  flowers 
on  th^  ^anks  of  the  Arno  where  she  first  saw  the 
light.  Little  did  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nightingale  then 
think  that  the  name  thus  chosen  was  destined  to 
become   one    of  the    most   popular  throughout  the 


BIRTH  AND   ANCESTRY  3 

British  Empire.  Every  "  Florence  "  practically  owes 
her  name  to  the  circumstances  of  Miss  Nightingale's 
birth. 

It  seemed  as  though  the  fates  were  determined 
to  give  an  attractive  designation  to  our  heroine. 
While  "  Florence"  suggested  the  goddess  of  flowers, 
"Nightingale"  spoke  of  sweet  melody.  What 
could  be  more  beautiful  and  euphonious  than  a 
name  suggesting  a  song-bird  from  the  land  of 
flowers?  The  combination  proved  a  special  joy 
to  Mr.  Fundi  and  his  fellow-humorists  when  the 
bearer  of  the  name  rose  to  fame. 

However,  Miss  Nightingale's  real  family  name 
was  Shore.  Her  father  was  William  Edward  Shore, 
the  only  son  of  W^illiam  Shore  of  Tapton,  Derby- 
shire, and  he  assumed  the  name  of  Nightingale,  by 
the  sign  manual  of  the  Prince  Regent,  when  he 
succeeded  in  1815  to  the  estates  of  his  mother's 
uncle,  Peter  Nightingale  of  Lea.  This  change  took 
place  three  years  before  his  marriage,  and  five 
before  the  birth  of  his  illustrious  daughter. 

Through  her  Shore  ancestry  Miss  Nightingale  is 
connected  with  the  family  of  Baron  Teignmouth.  Sir 
John  Shore,  Governor-General  of  India,  was  created 
a  baron  in  1797  and  took  the  title  of  Teignmouth. 
Another  John  Shore  was  an  eminent  physician  at 
Derby  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  and  a  Samuel  Short 
married  the  heiress  of  the  Oflleys,  a  Sheffield  family. 


4  LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

It  is  through  her  paternal  grandmother,  Mary, 
daughter  of  John  Evans  of  Cromford,  the  niece 
and  sole  heir  of  Peter  Nightingale,  that  Florence 
Nightingale  is  connected  with  the  family  whose 
name  she  bears.  Her  great-great-uncle,  Peter 
Nightingale,  was  a  typical  Derbyshire  squire  who 
more  than  a  century  ago  lived  in  good  style  at 
the  ^M^  old  mansion  of  Lea  Hall.  Those  were 
rough  and  roystering  days  in  such  isolated  villages 
as  Lea,  and  "  old  Peter "  had  his  share  of  the 
vices  then  deemed  gentlemanly.  He  could 
swear  with  the  best,  and  his  drinking  feats  might 
have  served  Burns  for  a  similar  theme  to  'The 
Whistle.  His  excesses  gained  for  him  the  nick- 
name of  ^'  Madman  Nightingale,"  and  accounts  of 
his  doings  still  form  the  subject  of  local  gossip. 
When  in  his  cups,  he  would  raid  the  kitchen,  take 
the  puddings  from  the  pots  and  fling  them  on 
the  dust-heap,  and  cause  the  maids  to  fly  in  terror. 
Nevertheless,  "  old  Peter  "  was  not  unpopular  ;  he 
was  good-natured  and  easy-going  with  his  people, 
and  if  he  drank  hard,  well,  so  did  his  neighbours. 
He  was  no  better  and  little  worse  than  the  average 
country  squire,  and  parson  too,  of  the  ^'  good  old 
times."  His  landed  possessions  extended  from  Lea 
straight  away  to  the  old  market  town  of  Cromford, 
and  beyond  towards  Matlock.  It  is  of  special  interest 
to  note    that   he   sold   a    portion  of  his  Cromford 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY  5 

property  to  Sir  Richard  Arkwright,  who  erected 
there  his  famous  cotton  mills.  The  beautiful 
mansion  of  Willersley  Castle,  which  the  ingenious 
cotton-spinner  built,  and  where  he  ended  his  days 
as  the  great  Sir  Richard,  stands  on  a  part  of  the 
original  Nightingale  property.  When  *'  old  Peter  " 
of  jovial  memory  passed  to  his  account,  his  estates 
and  name  descended  to  his  grand-nephew,  William 
Edward  Shore. 

The  new  squire,  Florence  Nightingale's  father, 
was  a  marked  contrast  to  his  predecessor.  He 
is  described  by  those  who  remember  him  as  a 
tall,  sHm,  gentlemanly  man  of  irreproachable 
character.  He  had  been  educated  at  Edinburgh 
and  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  had  broadened 
his  mind  by  foreign  travel  at  a  time  when  the  average 
English  squire,  still  mindful  of  the  once  terrifying 
name  of  "Boney,"  looked  upon  all  foreigners  as 
his  natural  enemies,  and  entrenched  himself  on 
his  ancestral  acres  with  a  supreme  contempt  for 
lands  beyond  the  Channel.  Mr.  Nightingale  was 
far  in  advance  of  the  county  gentry  of  his  time 
in  matters  of  education  and  culture.  Sport  had  no 
special  attraction  for  him,  but  he  was  a  student,  a 
lover  of  books  and  a  connoisseur  in  art.  He  was 
not  without  a  good  deal  of  pride  of  birth,  for 
the  Shores  were  a  very  ancient  family. 

As  a  landlord  he  had  a  sincere  desire  to  benefit 


6         LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  people  on  his  estates,  although  not  perhaps 
in  the  way  they  most  appreciated.  "  Well,  you 
see,  I  was  not  born  generous,"  is  still  remembered 
as  Mr.  Nightingale's  answer  when  solicited  for 
various  local  charities.  However,  he  never  be- 
grudged money  for  the  support  of  rural  education, 
and,  to  quote  the  saying  of  one  of  his  old 
tenants,  "  Many  poor  people  in  Lea  would  not  be 
able  to  read  and  write  to-day,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  *  Miss  Florence's  *  father."  He  was  the  chief 
supporter  of  what  was  then  called  the  '*  cheap 
school,"  where  the  boys  and  girls,  if  they  did  not 
go  through  the  higher  standards  of  the  present- 
day  schools,  at  least  learned  the  three  R's  for 
the  sum  of  twopence  a  week.  There  was,  of  course, 
no  compulsory  education  then,  but  the  displeasure  of 
the  squire  with  people  who  neglected  to  send  their 
children  to  school  was  a  useful  incentive  to  parents. 
Mr.  Nightingale  was  a  zealous  Churchman,  and 
did  much  to  further  Christian  work  in  his  district. 

Florence  Nightingale's  mother  was  Miss  Frances 
Smith,  daughter  of  William  Smith,  Esq.,  of 
Parndon  in  Essex,  who  for  some  years  was  M.P. 
for  Norwich.  He  was  a  pronounced  Abohtionist, 
took  wide  and  liberal  views  on  the  questions  of 
the  time,  and  was  noted  for  his  interest  in  various 
branches  of  philanthropy.  Mrs.  Nightingale  was 
imbued  v/ith  her  father's  spirit,  and  is  remembered 


BIRTH  AND  ANCESTRY  7 

for  her  great  kindness  and  benevolence  to  the  poor. 
She  was  a  stately  and  beautiful  woman  in  her 
prime  and  one  of  the  fast-dying-out  race  of 
gentlev/omen  who  were  at  once  notable  house- 
keepers and  charming  and  cultured  ladies.  Her 
name  is  still  mentioned  with  gratitude  and  affection 
by  the  old  people  of  her  husband's  estates. 

It  was  from  her  mother,  whom  she  greatly 
resembles,  that  Florence  Nightingale  inherited  the 
spirit  of  wide  philanthropy  and  the  desire  to  break 
away,  in  some  measure,  from  the  bonds  of  caste 
which  warped  the  county  gentry  in  her  early 
days  and  devote  herself  to  humanitarian  work. 
She  was  also  fortunate  in  having  a  father  who 
believed  that  a  girl's  head  could  carry  something 
more  than  elegant  accomplishments  and  a  knowledge 
of  cross-stitch.  While  our  heroine's  mother  trained 
her  in  deeds  of  benevolence,  her  father  inspired 
her  with  a  love  for  knowledge  and  guided  her 
studies  on  lines  much  in  advance  of  the  usual 
education  given   to  young  ladies  at  that  period. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nightingale  had  only  two  children — 
Frances,  afterwards  Lady  Verney,  and  Florence, 
about  a  year  younger. 


CHAPTER    II 

EARLIES2    ASSOCIATIONS 

Lea  Hall  first  English  Home — Neighbourhood  of  Babington  Plot — 
Dethick  Church. 

.  .  .  Those  first  affections, 
Those  shadowy  recollections, 

Which  be  they  what  they  may, 
Are  yet  the  fountain  light  of  all  our  day, 
Are  yet  a  master  light  of  all  our  seeing. 

Wordsworth. 

WHEN  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nightingale  returned 
from  abroad  with  their  two  little  daughters, 
they  lived  for  a  time  at  the  old  family  seat  of 
Lea  Hall,  which  therefore  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  first  English  home  of  Florence  Nightingale, 
an  honour  generally  attributed  to  her  parents'  sub- 
sequent residence  of  Lea   Hurst. 

Lea  Hall  is  beautifully  situated  high  up  amongst 
the  hills  above  the  valley  of  the  Derwent.  I  visited 
it  in  early  summer  when  the  meadows  around  were 
golden  with  buttercups  and  scented  with  clover,  and 
the  long  grass  stood  ready  tor  the  scythe.  Wild 
roses  decked  the  hedgerows,   and  the  elder-bushes. 


EARLIEST  ASSOCIATIONS  9 

which  grow  to  a  great  size  in  this  part  of  Derbyshire, 
made  a  fine  show  with  their  white  blossoms.  Seen 
then,  the  old  grey  Hall  seemed  a  pleasant  country 
residence ;  but  when  the  north  wind  blows  and 
snow  covers  the  hillsides,  it  must  be  a  bleak  and 
lonely  abode.  It  is  plainly  and  solidly  built  of  grey 
limestone  from  the  Derbyshire  quarries,  and  is  of 
good  proportions.  From  its  elevated  position  it  has 
an  imposing  look,  and  forms  a  landmark  in  the  open 
country.  Leading  from  it,  the  funny  old  village 
street  of  Lea,  with  its  low  stone  houses,  some  of 
them  very  ancient,  curls  round  the  hillside  down- 
wards to  the  valley.  The  butcher  proudly  displays 
a  ledger  with  entries  for  the  Nightingale  family 
since   1835. 

The  Hall  stands  on  the  ancient  Manor  of 
Lea,  which  includes  the  villages  of  Lea,  Dethick, 
and  Hollow  ay,  and  which  passed  through  several 
families  before  it  became  the  property  of  the 
Nightingales.  The  De  Alveleys  owned  the  manor 
in  the  reign  of  John  and  erected  a  chapel  there. 
One  portion  of  the  manor  passed  through  the 
families  of  Ferrar,  Dethwick,  and  Babington,  and 
another  portion  through  the  families  of  De  la  Lea, 
Frecheville,  Rollestone,  Pershall,  and  Spateman  to 
that  of  the  Nightingales. 

The  house  stands  a  little  back  from  the  Lea 
road  in  its  own  grounds,   and   is  approached  by  a 


lo        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

gate  from  the  front  garden.  Stone  steps  lead  up 
to  the  front  door,  which  opens  into  an  old-fashioned 
flag-paved  hall.  Facing  the  door  is  an  oak  stair- 
case of  exceptional  beauty.  It  gives  distinction  to 
the  house  and  proclaims  its  ancient  dignity.  The 
balustrade  has  finely  turned  spiral  rails,  the  steps 
are  of  solid  oak,  and  the  sides  of  the  staircase 
panelled  in  oak.  One  may  imagine  the  little 
Florence  making  her  first  efforts  at  climbing  up 
this  handsome  old  staircase. 

In  a  room  to  the  left  the  date  1799  has  been 
scratched  upon  one  of  the  window-panes,  but  the 
erection  of  the  Hall  m.ust  have  been  long  before  that 
time.  For  the  rest,  it  is  a  rambling  old  house  with 
thick  walls  and  deep  window  embrasures.  The 
ceilings  are  moderately  high.  There  is  an  old- 
fashioned  garden  at  the  back,  with  fruit  and  shady 
trees  and  a  particularly  handsome  copper  beech. 

The  Hall  has  long  been  used  as  a  farmhouse, 
and  scarcely  one  out  of  the  hundreds  of  visitors 
to  the  Matlock  district  who  go  on  pilgrimages  to 
Lea  Hurst  know  of  its  interesting  association.  The 
old  lady  who  now  occupies  it  is  not  a  little  proud 
of  the  fact  that  for  forty-four  years  she  has  lived 
in  the  first  English  home  of  Florence  Nightingale. 

The  casual  visitor  might  think  the  district  amid 
which  our  heroine's  early  years  were  spent  was 
a    pleasant    Derbyshire   wild    and    nothing    more^ 


EARLIEST  ASSOCIATIONS  n 

but  it  has  also  much  historic  interest.     Across  the 
meadows    from    Lea   Hall  are   the    remains  of  the 
stately    mansion    of  Dethick,    where    dwelt    young 
Anthony    Babington   when  he    conspired  to  release 
Mary   Queen  of   Scots  from  her    imprisonment  at 
Wingfield    Manor,  a  few  miles   away.     Over  these 
same  meadows  and  winding  lanes  Queen  Elizabeth's 
officers    searched    for    the    conspirators    and    appre- 
hended   one  at  Dethick.     The  mansion    where  the 
plot   was  hatched   has    been  largely  destroyed,  and 
what  remains  is   used  for  farm  purposes.     Part   of 
the  old  wall  which  enclosed  the  original  handsome 
building  still  stands,  and  beside  it  is  an  underground 
cellar    which    according    to    tradition    leads    into    a 
secret    passage    to    Wingfield     Manor.     The    farm 
bailiff  who  stores  his  potatoes  in  the  cellar  has  not 
been  able  to  find  the  entrance  to  the  secret  passage, 
though  at  one  side  of  the  wall  there  is  a  suspicious 
hollow  sound  when  it  is   hammered. 

The  original  kitchen  of  the  mansion  remains 
intact  in  the  bailifFs  farmhouse.  There  is  the 
heavy  oak-beamed  ceiling,  black  with  age,  the 
ponderous  oak  doors,  the  great  open  fireplace,  dese- 
crated by  a  modern  cooking  range  in  the  centre, 
but  which  still  retains  in  the  overhanging  beam 
the  ancient  roasting  jack  which  possibly  cooked 
venison  for  Master  Anthony  and  the  other  gallant 
young    gentlemen    who    had    sworn  to  liberate   the 


12         LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

captive  Queen.  In  the  roof  of  the  ceiling  is  an  in- 
nocent-looking little  trap-door  which,  when  opened, 
reveals  a  secret  chamber  of  some  size.  This  delightful 
old  kitchen,  with  its  mysterious  memories,  was  a  place 
of  great  fascination  to  Florence  Nightingale  and 
her  sister  in  their  childhood,  and  many  stories  did 
they  weave  about  the  scenes  which  transpired  long 
ago  in  the  old  mansion,  so  near  their  own  home. 
It  was  a  source  of  peculiar  interest  to  have  the 
scenes  of  a  real  Queen  Mary  romance  close  at 
hand,  and  gave  zest  to  the  subject  when  the 
sisters  read  about  the  Babington  plot  in  their  his- 
tory books. 

Dethick  Church,  where  our  heroine  attended  her 
first  public  service,  and  continued  to  frequently 
worship  so  long  as  she  lived  in  Derbyshire,  formed 
a  part  of  the  Babingtons'  domain.  It  was  originally 
the  private  chapel  of  the  mansion,  but  gradually 
was  converted  to  the  uses  of  a  parish  church.  Its 
tall  tower  forms  a  picturesque  object  from  the 
windows  of  Lea  Hall.  The  church  must  be  one 
of  the  smallest  in  the  kingdom.  Fifty  persons 
would  prove  an  overflowing  congregation  even 
now  that  modern  seating  has  utilised  space,  but  in 
Florence  Nightingale's  girlhood,  when  the  quality 
sat  in  their  high-backed  pews  and  the  rustics  on 
benches  at  the  farther  end  of  the  church,  the  sitting 
room  was  still    more  limited.     The  interior  of  the 


EARLIEST  ASSOCIATIONS  13 

church  is  still  plain  and  rustic,  with  bare  stone  walls, 
and  the  bell  ropes  hanging  in  view  of  the  con- 
gregation. The  service  was  quaint  in  Miss 
Nightingale's  youth,  when  the  old  clerk  made  the 
responses  to  the  parson,  and  the  preaching  some- 
times took  an  original  turn.  The  story  is  still 
repeated  in  the  district  that  the  old  parson,  preaching 
one  Sunday  on  the  subject  of  lying,  made  the 
consoling  remark  that  *'  a  lie  is  sometimes  a  very 
useful  thing  in  trade."  The  saying  was  often 
repeated  by  the  farmers  of  Lea  and  Dethick  in  the 
market  square  of  Derby. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  Dethick  Church  was 
originally  a  private  chapel,  there  is  no  graveyard. 
It  stands  in  a  pretty  green  enclosure  on  the  top  of 
a  hill.  An  old  yew-tree  shades  the  door,  and  near 
by  are  two  enormous  elder-bushes,  which  have  twined 
their  great  branches  together  until  they  fall  down  to 
the  ground  like  a  drooping  ash,  forming  an  absolutely 
secluded  bower,  very  popular  with  lovers  and  truants 
from  church. 

The  palmy  days  of  old  Dethick  Church  are  past. 
No  longer  do  the  people  from  the  surrounding 
villages  and  hamlets  climb  its  steep  hillside,  Sunday 
by  Sunday,  for,  farther  down  in  the  vale,  a  new 
church  has  recently  been  built  at  Holloway,  which,  if 
less  picturesque,  is  certainly  more  convenient  for  the 
population.     On    the  first   Sunday  in  each  month, 


14        LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

however,  a  service  is  still  held  in  the  old  church 
where,  in  days  long  ago,  Florence  Nightingale  sat 
in  the  squire's  pew,  looking  in  her  Leghorn  hat 
and  sandal  shoes  a  very  bonny  little  maiden 
indeed. 


CHAPTER    III 


LEA    HURST 


Removal    to    Lea    Hurst— Description    of  the    House— Florence 
Nightingale's  Crimean  Carriage  preserved  there. 

L  o !  in  the  midst  of  Nature's  choicest  scenes, 

E  mbosomed  'mid  tall  trees,  and  towering  hills, 

A  gem,  in  Nature's  setting,   rests  Lea  Hurst. 

H  ome  of  the  good,  the  pure  at  heart  and  beautiful, 

U  ndying  is  the  fame  which,  like  a  halo's  light, 

R  ound  thee  is  cast  by  the  bright  presence  of  the  holy  Florence, 

Saint-like  and  heavenly.     Thou  hast  indeed  a  glorious  fame 

Time  cannot  change,  but  which  will  be  eternal. 

Llewellyn  Jewett. 

WHEN  Florence  Nightingale  was  between 
five  and  six  years  old,  the  family  removed 
from  Lea  Hall  to  Lea  Hurst,  a  house  which 
Mr.  Nightingale  had  been  rebuilding  on  a  site 
about  a  mile  distant,  and  immediately  above  the 
hamlet  of  Lea  Mills.  This  delightful  new  home 
is  the  one  most  widely  associated  with  the  life  of 
our  heroine.  To  quote  the  words  of  the  old  lady 
at  the  lodge,  ''  It  was  from  Lea  Hurst  as  Miss 
Florence  set  out  for  the  Crimea,  and  it  was  to  Lea 
Hurst  as  Miss  Florence  returned  from  the  Crimea." 

15 


1 6        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

For  many  years  after  the  war  it  was  a  place  of 
pilgrimage,  and  is  mentioned  in  almost  every  guide- 
book as  one  of  the  attractions  of  the  Matlock 
district.  It  has  never  been  in  any  sense  a  show 
house,  and  the  park  is  private,  but  in  days  gone 
by  thousands  of  people  came  to  the  vicinity,  happy 
if  they  could  see  its  picturesque  gables  from  the 
hillside,  and  always  with  the  hope  that  a  glimpse 
might  be  caught  of  the  famous  lady  who  lived 
within  its  walls.  Miss  Nightingale  remains  tenderly 
attached  to  Lea  Hurst,  although  it  is  seventeen 
years  since  she  last  stayed  there.  After  the  death 
of  her  parents  it  passed  to  the  next  male  heir, 
Mr.  Shore  Smith,  who  later  assumed  the  name  of 
Nightingale. 

Lea  Hurst  is  only  fourteen  miles  from  Derby, 
but  the  following  incident  would  lead  one  to 
suppose  that  the  house  is  not  as  familiar  in  the 
county  town  as  might  be  expected.  Not  long  ago 
a  lady  asked  at  a  fancy  stationer's  shop  for  a 
photograph  of  Lea  Hurst. 

"  Lea  Hurst  }  "  pondered  the  young  saleswoman, 
and  turning  to  her  companion  behind  the  counter, 
she  inquired,  "  Have  we  a  photograph  of  Lea 
Hurst.?" 

"Yes,  I  think  so,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Who  is  Lea  Hurst  t "  asked  the  first  girl. 

"Why,  an  actor  of  course,"  replied  the  second 


LEA  HURST  17 

There  was  an  amusing  tableau  when  the  truth 
was  made  known. 

Miss  Nightingale's  father  displayed  a  fine  dis- 
crimination when  he  selected  the  position  for  his 
new  house.  One  might  search  even  the  romantic 
Peak  country  in  vain  for  a  more  ideal  site  than 
Lea  Hurst.  It  stands  on  a  broad  plateau  looking 
across  to  the  sharp,  bold  promontory  of  limestone 
rock  known  as  Crich  Stand.  Soft  green  hills  and 
wooded  heights  stud  the  landscape,  while  deep 
down  in  the  green  valley  the  silvery  Derwent — or 
*'  Darent,"  as  the  natives  call  it — makes  music  as 
it  dashes  over  its  rocky  bed.  The  outlook  is  one 
of  perfect  repose  and  beauty  away  to  Dove's 
romantic  dale,  and  the  aspect  is  balmy  and  sunny, 
forming  in  this  respect  a  contrast  to  the  exposed 
and  bleak  situation  of  Lea  Hall. 

The  house  is  in  the  style  of  an  old  Elizabethan 
mansion,  and  now  that  time  has  mellowed  the  stone 
and  clothed  the  walls  with  greenery,  one  might 
imagine  that  it  really  dated  from  the  Tudor  period. 
Mr.  Nightingale  was  a  man  of  artistic  tastes,  and 
every  detail  of  the  house  was  carefully  planned  for 
picturesque  effect.  The  mansion  is  built  in  the 
form  of  a  cross  with  jutting  wings,  and  presents  a 
picture  of  clustering  chimneys,  pointed  gables,  stone 
mullioned  windows  and  latticed  panes.  The  fine 
oriel  window  of  the  drawing-room  forms  a  projecting 

2 


i8        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

wing  at  one  end  of  the  house.  The  rounded 
balcony  above  the  window  has  become  historic.  It 
is  pointed  out  to  visitors  as  the  place  where  '*  Miss 
Florence  used  to  come  out  and  speak  to  the  people." 
Miss  Nightingale's  room  opened  on  to  this  balcony, 
and  after  her  return  from  the  Crimea,  when  she 
was  confined  to  the  house  with  delicate  health,  she 
would  occasionally  step  from,  her  room  on  to  the 
balcony  to  speak  to  the  people,  who  had  come  as 
deputations,  while  they  stood  in  the  park  below. 
Facing  the  oriel  balcony  is  a  gateway,  shadowed 
by  yew-trees,  which  forms  one  of  the  entrances 
from  the  park  to  the  garden. 

In  front  of  the  house  is  a  circular  lawn  with 
gravel  path  and  flower-beds,  and  above  the  hall 
door  is  inscribed  N.  and  the  date  1825,  the  year 
in  which  Lea  Hurst  was  completed.  The  principal 
rooms  open  on  to  the  garden  or  south  front,  and 
have  a  delightfully  sunny  aspect  and  a  commanding 
view  over  the  vale.  From  the  library  a  flight 
of  stone  steps  leads  down  to  the  lawn.  The  old 
schoolroom  and  nursery  where  our  heroine  passed 
her  early  years  are  in  the  upper  part  of  the  house 
and  have  lovely  views  over  the  hills. 

In  the  centre  of  the  garden  front  of  the  mansion 
is  a  curious  little  projecting  building  which  goes 
by  the  name  of  "  the  chapel."  It  is  evidently  an 
ancient  building    efi^ectively   incn-porated    into    Lea 


LEA  HURST  19 

Hurst.  There  are  several  such  little  oratories 
of  Norman  date  about  the  district,  and  the  old 
lady  at  Lea  Hurst  lodge  shows  a  stone  window 
in  the  side  of  her  cottage  which  is  said  to  be  seven 
hundred  years  old.  A  stone  cross  surmounts  the  roof 
of  the  chapel,  and  outside  on  the  end  wall  is  an 
inscription  in  curious  characters.  This  ancient  little 
building  has,  however,  a  special  interest  for  our 
narrative,  as  Miss  Nightingale  used  it  for  many 
years  as  the  meeting  place  for  the  Sunday  after- 
noon Bible-class  which  she  held  for  the  girls  of 
the  district.  In  those  days  there  was  a  large  bed 
of  one  of  Miss  Nightingale's  favourite  flowers,  the 
fuchsia,  outside  the  chapel,  but  that  has  been  replaced 
by  a  fountain  and  basin,  and  the  historic  building 
itself,  with  its  thick  stone  walls,  now  makes  an 
excellent  larder. 

The  gardens  at  Lea  Hurst  slope  down  from  the  back 
of  the  house  in  a  series  of  grassy  terraces  connected 
by  stone  steps,  and  are  still  preserved  in  all  their 
old-fashioned  charm  and  beauty.  There  in  spring 
and  early  summer  one  sees  wallflowers,  peonies, 
pansies,  forget-me-nots,  and  many-coloured  primulas 
in  delightful  profusion,  while  the  apple  trellises  which 
skirt  the  terraces  make  a  pretty  show  with  their 
pink  blossoms,  and  the  long  border  of  lavender- 
bushes  is  bursting  into  bloom.  In  a  secluded 
corner  of  the  garden  is  an  old  summer-house  with 


20        LIFE   OB  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

pointed  roof  of  thatch  which  must  have  been 
a  delightful  playhouse  for  little  Florence  and 
her  sister. 

The  park  slopes  down  on  either  side  the  plateau 
on  which  the  house  stands.  The  entrance  to 
the  drive  is  in  the  pleasant  country  road  which 
leads  to  the  village  of  Whatstandwell  and  on 
to  Derby.  This  very  modest  park  entrance, 
consisting  of  an  ordinary  wooden  gate  supported 
by  stone  pillars  with  globes  on  the  top,  has  been 
described  by  an  enthusiastic  chronicler  as  a  **  stately 
gateway "  with  "  an  air  of  mediaeval  grandeur.'* 
There  is  certainly  no  grandeur  about  Lea  Hurst, 
either  mediaeval  or  modern.  It  is  just  one  of 
those  pleasant  and  picturesque  country  mansions 
which  are  characteristic  of  rural  England,  and  no 
grandeur  is  needed  to  give  distinction  to  a  house 
which  the  name  of  Florence  Nightingale  has 
hallowed. 

Beyond  the  park  the  Lea  woods  cover  the 
hillside  for  some  distance,  and  in  spring  are 
thickly  carpeted  with  bluebells.  A  long  winding 
avenue,  from  which  magnificent  views  are  obtained 
over  the  hills  and  woodland  glades  for  many  miles, 
skirts  the  top  of  the  woods,  and  is  still  remembered 
as  *'  Miss  Florence's  favourite  walk." 

The  chief  relic  preserved  at  Lea  Hurst  is  the 
curious    old    carriage    used    by    Miss    Nightingale 


LEA  HURST  21 

in  the  Crimea.  What  memories  does  it  not  sug- 
gest of  her  journeys  from  one  hospital  to  another 
over  the  heights  of  Balaclava,  when  its  utmost 
carrying  capacity  was  filled  with  comforts  for  the 
sick  and  wounded  !  The  body  of  the  carriage 
is  of  basket-work,  and  it  has  special  springs  made 
to  suit  the  rough  Crimean  roads.  There  is  a 
hood  which  can  be  half  or  fully  drawn  over  the 
entire  vehicle.  The  carriage  was  driven  by  a 
mounted  men  acting  as  postilion. 

It  seems  as  though  such  a  unique  object  ought 
to  have  a  permanent  place  in  one  of  our  public 
museums,  for  its  interest  is  national.  A  native 
of  the  district,  who  a  short  time  ago  chanced  to 
see  the  carriage,  caught  the  national  idea  and 
returned  home  lamenting  that  he  could  not  put 
the  old  carriage  on  wheels  and  take  it  from 
town  to  town.  "There's  a  fortune  in  the  old 
thing,"  said  he,  "for  most  folks  would  pay 
a  shilling  or  a  sixpence  to  see  the  very  identical 
carriage  in  which  Miss  Florence  took  the  wounded 
about  in  those  Crimean  times.  It's  astonishing 
what  little  things  please  people  in  the  way  of  a 
show.  Why,  that  carriage  would  earn  money 
enough  to  build  a  hospital !  '* 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE  DAYS   OF  CHILDHOOD 

Romantic  Journeys  from  Lea  Hurst  to  Embley  Park — George  Eliot 
Associations — First  Patient — Love  of  Animals  and  Flowers — 
Early  Education. 

The  childhood  shows  the  man, 

As  morning  shows  the  day. 

Milton, 
There  is  a  lesson  in  each  flower; 
A  story  in  each  stream  and  bower; 
On  every  herb  o'er  which  you  tread 
Are  written  words  which,  rightly  read, 
Will  lead  you  from  earth's  fragrant  sod, 
To  hope  and  holiness  and  God. 

Allan  Cunningham. 

THE  childhood  of  Florence  Nightingale,  begun, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  the  sunny  land  of  Italy, 
was  subsequently  passed  in  the  beautiful  surround- 
ings of  her  Derbyshire  home,  and  at  Embley 
Park,  Hampshire,  a  fine  old  Elizabethan  mansion, 
which  Mr.  Nightingale  purchased  when  Florence 
was  about  six  years  old. 

The  custom  was  for  the  family  to  pass  the  summer 
at  Lea  Hurst,  going  in  the  autumn  to  Embley  for 
the  winter  and  early  spring.     And  what  an  exciting 


THE  DAYS  OF  CHILDHOOD  23 

and  delightful  time  Florence  and  her  sister  Frances 
had  on  the  occasions  of  these  alternative  *'  flittings  " 
between  Derbyshire  and  Hampshire  in  the  days 
before  railroads  had  destroyed  the  romance  of 
travelling !  Then  the  now  quiet  little  town  of 
Cromford,  two  miles  from  Lea  Hurst,  was  a  busy 
coaching  centre,  and  the  stage  coaches  also  stopped 
for  passengers  at  the  village  inn  of  Whatstand- 
well,  just  below  Lea  Hurst  Park.  In  those  times 
the  Derby  road  was  alive  with  the  pleasurable 
excitements  of  the  prancing  of  horses,  the  crack 
of  the  coach-driver's  whip,  the  shouts  of  the  post- 
boys, and  the  sound  of  the  horn — certainly  more 
inspiring  and  romantic  sights  and  sounds  than  the 
present  toot-toot  of  the  motor-car,  and  the  billows 
of  dust-clouds  which  follow  in  its  rear. 

Sometimes  the  journey  from  Lea  Hurst  was 
made  by  coach,  but  more  frequently  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Nightingale  with  their  two  little  girls  drove  in  their 
own  carriage,  proceeding  by  easy  stages  and  putting 
up  at  inns  en  roiite^  while  the  servants  went  before 
with  the  luggage  to  prepare  Embley  for  the  reception 
of  the  family. 

How  glorious  it  was  in  those  bright  October 
days  to  drive  through  the  country,  just  assuming 
its  dress  of  red  and  gold,  or  again  in  the  return 
journey  in  the  spring,  when  the  hills  and  dales  of 
Derbyshire  were  bursting  into    fresh  green  beauty. 


24        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

The  passionate  love  for  nature  and  the  sights  and 
sounds  of  rural  life  which  has  always  characterised 
Miss  Nightingale  was  implanted  in  these  happy  days 
of  childhood.  And  so,  too,  were  the  homely  wit 
and  piquant  sayings  which  distinguish  her  writings 
and  mark  her  more  intimate  conversation.  She 
acquired  them  unconsciously,  as  she  encountered 
the  country  people. 

In  her  Derbyshire  home  she  lived  in  touch 
with  the  life  which  at  the  same  period  was 
weaving  its  spell  about  Marian  Evans,  when  she 
visited  her  kinspeople,  and  was  destined  to  be 
immortalised  in  Adam  Bede  and  The  Mill  on  the 
Floss,  Amongst  her  father's  tenants  Florence 
Nightingale  knew  farmers'  wives  who  had  a  touch 
of  Mrs.  Poyser's  caustic  wit,  and  was  familiar 
with  the  *'  Yea "  and  "  Nay "  and  other  quaint 
forms  of  Derbyshire  speech,  such  as  Mr.  Tulliver 
used  when  he  talked  to  "  the  little  wench  "  in  the 
house-place  of  the  ill-fated  Mill  on  the  Floss.  She 
met,  too,  many  of  "  the  people  called  Methodists,'* 
who  in  her  girlhood  were  establishing  their  preach- 
ing-places in  the  country  around  Lea  Hurst,  and 
she  heard  of  the  fame  of  the  woman  preacher,  then 
exercising  her  marvellous  gifts  in  the  Derby  district, 
who  was  to  become  immortal  as  Dinah  Morris. 
In  Florence  Nightingale's  early  womanhood,  Adam 
Bede  lived  in  his  thatched  cottage  by  Wirksworth 


THE  DAYS  OF  CHILDHOOD  25 

Tape  Mills,  a  few  miles  from  Lea  Hurst,  and  the 
Poysers'  farm  stood  across  the  meadows. 

The  childhood  of  our  heroine  was  passed  amid 
surroundings  which  proved  a  singularly  interesting 
environment.  Steam  power  had  not  then  revolu- 
tionised rural  England :  the  counties  retained 
their  distinctive  speech  and  customs,  the  young 
people  remained  on  the  soil  where  they  were 
born,  and  the  rich  and  the  poor  were  thrown 
more  intimately  together.  The  effect  of  the 
greater  personal  intercourse  then  existing  between 
the  squire's  family  and  his  people  had  an  important 
influence  on  the  character  of  Florence  Nightingale 
in  her  Derbyshire  and  Hampshire  homes.  She 
learned  sympathy  v/ith  the  poor  and  afflicted, 
and  gained  an  understanding  of  the  workings 
and  prejudices  of  the  uneducated  mind,  which 
enabled  her  in  after  years  to  be  a  real  friend  to 
those  poor  fellows  fresh  from  the  battlefields 
of  the  Crimea,  many  of  whom  had  enlisted  from 
the  class  of  rural  homes  which  she   knew   so  well. 

When  quite  a  child,  Florence  Nightingale  showed 
characteristics  which  pointed  to  her  vocation  in 
life.  Her  dolls  were  always  in  a  delicate  state 
of  health  and  required  the  utmost  care.  Florence 
would  undress  and  put  them  to  bed  with  many 
cautions  to  her  sister  not  to  disturb  them.  She 
soothed  their  pillows,  tempted  them  with  imaginary 


26        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

delicacies  from  toy  cups  and  plates,  and  nursed 
them  to  convalescence,  only  to  consign  them  to 
a  sick  bed  the  next  day.  Happily,  Frances  did 
not  exhibit  the  same  tender  consideration  for  her 
waxen  favourites,  who  frequently  suffered  the  loss 
of  a  limb  or  got  burnt  at  the  nursery  fire. 
Then  of  course  Florence's  superior  skill  was 
needed,  and  she  neatly  bandaged  poor  dolly  and 
^*  set "  her  arms  and  legs  with  a  facility  which 
might  be  the  envy  of  the  modern  miraculous 
bone-setter. 

The  first  **  real  live  patient "  of  the  future 
Queen  of  Nurses  was  Cap,  the  dog  of  an  old 
Scotch  shepherd,  and  although  the  story  has  been 
many  times  repeated  since  Florence  Nightingale's 
name  became  a  household  word,  no  account  of 
her  childhood  would  be  complete  without  it.  One 
day  Florence  was  having  a  deHghtful  ride  over 
the  Hampshire  downs  near  Embley  along  with 
the  vicar,  for  whom  she  had  a  warm  affection. 
He  took  great  interest  in  the  little  girl's  fondness 
for  anything  which  had  to  do  with  the  relief  of 
the  sick  or  injured,  and  as  his  own  tastes  lay  in 
that  direction,  he  was  able  to  give  her  much  useful 
instruction.  However,  on  this  particular  day,  as 
they  rode  along  the  downs,  they  noticed  the 
sheep  scattered  in  all  directions  and  old  Roger,  the 
shepherd,  vainly    trying    to    collect    them    together. 


THE  DAYS   OF  CHILDHOOD  27 

"  Where  is  your  dog  ?  "  asked  the  vicar  as  he 
drew  up  his  horse  and  watched  the  old  man's  futile 
efforts. 

"  The  boys  have  been  throwing  stones  at  him, 
sir,  "  was  the  reply,  "  and  they  have  broken  his  leg, 
poor  beast.  He  will  never  be  any  good  for  any- 
thing again  and  I  am  thinking  of  putting  an  end 
to  his  misery." 

"  Poor  Cap's  leg  broken  }  "  said  a  girlish  voice 
at  the  clergyman's  side.  "  Oh,  cannot  we  do 
something  for  him,  Roger }  It  is  cruel  to  leave 
him  alone  in  his  pain.      Where  is  he  ? " 

"  You  can't  do  any  good,  missy,"  said  the  old 
shepherd  sorrowfully.  ''  I'll  just  take  a  cord  to 
him  to-night — that  will  be  the  best  way  to  ease 
his  pain.     I  left  him  lying  in  the  shed  over  yonder." 

"  Oh,  can't  we  do  something  for  poor  Cap  ?  '* 
pleaded  Florence  to  her  friend  ;  and  the  vicar, 
seeing  the  look  of  pity  in  her  young  face,  turned 
his  horse's  head  towards  the  distant  shed  where 
the  dog  lay.  But  Florence  put  her  pony  to  the 
gallop  and  reached  the  shed  first.  Kneeling  down 
on  the  mud  floor,  she  caressed  the  suffering  dog 
with  her  little  hand,  and  spoke  soothing  words  to 
it  until  the  faithful  brown  eyes  seemed  to  have 
less  of  pain  in  them  and  were  lifted  to  her  face  in 
pathetic  gratitude. 

That  look  of  the  shepherd's  dog,  which  touched 


28        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

her  girlish  heart  on  the  lonely  hillside,  Florence 
Nightingale  was  destined  to  see  repeated  in  the 
eyes  of  suffering  men  as  she  bent  over  them  in 
the  hospital  at  Scutari. 

The  vicar  soon  joined  his  young  companion,  and. 
finding    that    the    dog's    leg    was  only  injured,  not 
broken,    he    decided    that    a    little    careful    nursing 
would    put    him    all    right    again. 

"What  shall  I  do  first.?"  asked  Florence,  all 
eagerness  to  begin  nursing  in  real  earnest. 

"  Well,"  said  her  friend,  *'  I  should  advise  a  hot 
compress  on  Cap's  leg." 

Florence  looked  puzzled,  for  though  she  had 
poulticed  and  bandaged  her  dolls,  she  had  never 
heard  about  a  compress.  However,  finding  that 
in  plain  language  it  meant  cloths  wrung  out  of 
boiling  water,  and  laid  upon  the  affected  part,  she 
set  nimbly  to  work  under  the  vicar's  directions. 
Boiling  water  v/as  the  first  requisite,  and  calling 
in  the  services  of  the  shepherd's  boy,  she  lighted 
a  fire  of  sticks  in  the  cottage  near  by,  and  soon  had 
the  kettle  boiling. 

Next  thing,  she  looked  round  for  cloths  to  make 
the  compress.  The  shepherd's  clean  smock  hung 
behind  the  door,  and  Florence  seized  it  with  delight, 
for  it  was  the  very  thing. 

"  If  I  tear  it  up,  mamma  will  give  Roger  another," 
she   reasoned,    and,  at  an  approving    nod  from  the 


THE  DAYS  OF   CHILDHOOD  29 

vicar,  tore  the  smock  into  suitable  lengths  for 
fomentation.  Then  gohig  back  to  the  place  where 
the  dog  lay,  accompanied  by  the  boy  carrying 
the  kettle  and  a  basin,  Florence  Nightingale  set  to 
work  to  give  "  first  aid  to  the  wounded."  Cap 
offered  no  resistance  —  he  had  a  wise  confidence  in 
his  nurse — and  as  she  applied  the  fomentations  the 
swelling  began  to  go  down,  and  the  pain  grew  less. 

Florence  was  resolved  to  do  her  work  thoroughly, 
and  a  messenger  having  been  despatched  to  allay 
her  parents'  anxiety  at  her  prolonged  absence,  she  re- 
mained for  several  hours  in  attendance  on  her  patient. 

In  the  evening  old  Roger  came  slowly  and 
sorrowfully  towards  the  shed,  carrying  the  fatal 
rope,  but  no  sooner  did  he  put  his  head  in  at  the 
door  than  Cap  greeted  him  with  a  whine  of  pleasure 
and  tried  to  come  towards  him. 

"  Deary  me,  missy,"  said  the  old  shepherd  in 
astonishment,  "  v/hy,  you  have  been  doing  wonders. 
I  never  thought  to  see  the  poor  dog  greet  me 
again." 

"  Yes,  doesn't  he  look  better  } "  said  the  youthful 
nurse  with  pardonable  pride.  '^  You  can  throw 
away  that  rope  now,  and  help  me  to  make 
compresses." 

"  That  I  will,  missy,"  said  Roger,  and  stooping 
down  beside  Florence  and  Cap,  he  was  initiated  into 
the  mysteries. 


30        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

"  Yes,"  said  the  vicar,  "  Miss  Florence  is  quite 
right,  Roger — your  dog  will  soon  be  able  to  walk 
again  if  you  give  it  a  little  rest  and  care." 

"  I  am  sure  I  can't  thank  your  reverence  and  the 
young  lady  enough,"  replied  the  shepherd,  quite 
overcome  at  the  sight  of  his  faithful  dog's  look  of 
content  and  the  thought  that  he  would  not  lose 
him  after  all  ;  *'  and  you  may  be  sure,  sir,  I  will 
carry  out  the  instructions." 

"  But  I  shall  come  again  to-morrow,  Roger," 
interposed  Florence,  who  had  no  idea  of  giving 
up  her  patient  yet.  "  I  know  mamma  will  let  me 
when  I  tell  her  about  poor  Cap."  After  a  parting 
caress  to  the  dog,  and  many  last  injunctions  to 
Roger,  Florence  mounted  her  pony  and  rode  away 
with  the  vicar,  her  young  heart  very  full  of  joy. 
She  had  really  helped  to  lessen  pain,  if  only  for 
a  dumb  creature,  and  the  grateful  eyes  of  the 
suffering  dog  stirred  a  new  feeling  in  her  opening 
mind.  She  longed  to  be  always  doing  something 
for  somebody,  and  the  poor  people  on  her  father's 
estates  soon  learned  what  a  kind  friend  they  had  in 
Miss  Florence.  They  grew  also  to  have  unbounded 
faith  in  her  skill,  and  whenever  a  pet  animal  was 
sick  or  injured,  the  owner  would  contrive  to  let 
"  Miss  Florence  "  know. 

She    and   her   sister    were    encouraged    by    Mr. 
and  Mrs.    Nightingale    in  a  love   of  animals,  and 


THE  DAYS   OF  CHILDHOOD  31 

were  allowed  to  have  many  pets.  It  was 
characteristic  of  Florence  that  her  heart  went  out 
to  the  less  favoured  ones,  those  which  owing  to 
old  age  or  infirmity  were  taken  little  notice  of  by 
the  servants  and  farm-men.  She  was  particularly 
attached  to  Peggy,  an  old  grey  pony  long  since 
past  work,  who  spent  her  days  in  the  paddock  at 
Lea  Hurst.  Florence  never  missed  a  morning,  if 
she  could  help  it,  without  going  to  talk  to  Peggy, 
who  knew  her  footstep,  and  would  come  trotting 
up  to  the  gate  ready  to  meet  her  young  mistress. 
Then  would  follow  some  good-natured  sport. 

"  Would  you  like  an  apple,  poor  old  Peggy  } " 
Florence  would  say  as  she  fondled  the  pony's 
neck ;  "  then  look  for  it." 

At  this  invitation  Peggy  would  put  her  nose 
to  the  dress  pocket  of  her  little  visitor  and 
discover  the  delicacy.  Or  it  might  be  a  carrot, 
held  well  out  of  sight,  which  Peggy  was  invited 
to  play  hide-and-seek  for.  If  the  stable  cat  had 
kittens,  it  was  Florence  who  gave  them  a  welcome 
and  fondled  and  played  with  the  little  creatures 
before  any  one  else  noticed  them.  She  had,  too, 
a  quick  eye  for  a  hedge-sparrow's  nest,  and  would 
jealously  guard  the  brooding  mother's  secret  until 
the  fledgelings  were  hatched  and  ready  to  ^y. 
Some  of  the  bitterest  tears  of  her  childhood  were 
shed   over  the  broken-up  homes  of  some   of  her 


32        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

feathered  friends.  The  young  animals  in  the  fields 
were  quickly  won  by  her  kind  nature,  and  would 
come  bounding  towards  her.  Out  in  those  beauti- 
ful Lea  Hurst  woods  she  made  companions  of  the 
squirrels,  who  came  fearlessly  after  her  as  she 
walked,  to  pick  up  the  nuts  mysteriously  dropped 
in  their  path.  Then,-  when  master  squirrel  least 
expected  it,  Florence  turned  sharp  round  and 
away  raced  the  little  brown  creature  up  the  tall 
beech,  only  to  come  down  again  with  a  quizzical 
look  in  his  keen  little  eye  at  nuts  held  too  tempt- 
ingly for  any  squirrel  of  ordinary  appetite  to  resist. 
With  what  delight  she  watched  their  funny  antics, 
for  she  had  the  gift  to  make  these  timid  creatures 
trust  her. 

Then  in  spring-time  there  was  sure  to  be  a 
pet  lamb  to  be  fed,  and  Florence  and  her  sister 
were  indeed  happy  at  this  acquisition  to  the  home 
pets.  The  pony  which  she  rode  and  the  dog 
which  was  ever  at  her  side  were  of  course  her 
particular  dumb  friends.  I  am  not  sure,  however, 
that  she  thought  them  dumb,  for  she  and  they 
understood  one  another  perfectly.  The  love  of 
animals,  which  was  so  marked  a  characteristic  in 
Florence  Nightingale  as  a  child,  remained  with  her 
throughout  life  and  made  her  very  sympathetic 
to  invalids  who  craved  for  the  company  of  some 
favourite   animal.     Many    nurses    and   doctors  dis- 


THE  DAYS  OF  CHILDHOOD  33 

approve  of  their  patients  having  pets   about  them, 
but,  to  quote  the  Queen  of  Nurses'  own  words,  "  A 
small  pet  animal  is  often   an   excellent    companion 
for    the    sick,    for    long    chronic    cases    especially. 
An    invalid,  in   giving  an   account    of  his   nursing 
by  a  nurse  and   a  dog,  infinitely  preferred  that   of 
the  dog.     'Above  all,'  he  said,  *  it  did  not  talk.'" 
It  was  a  great  source  of  pleasure  to  Florence  in 
her    early   years    to    be    allowed   to  act  as  almoner 
for  her  mother.     Mrs.    Nightingale  was  very  kind 
and  benevolent  to  the  people    around  Lea    Hurst 
and  Embley,  and  supplied  the  sick  with  delicacies 
from  her  own  table.     Indeed,  she  made  her  homes 
centres  of  beneficence  for  several  miles  around,  and, 
according    to    the    best    traditions    of    those    times, 
was  ready  with  remedies  for  simple  ailments  when 
the    doctor  was   not    at    hand.      Owing  to  the  fact 
that  Florence  had  never  had  measles  and  whooping 
cough,  her    parents    had  to    exercise  great    caution 
in  permitting  her  to  visit  the  cottage  people  ;  how- 
ever, she  could  call  at  the  doors  on  her  pony  and 
leave  jelly  and  puddings   from    the   basket    at  her 
saddle-bow  without  incurring  special  risk.     And  she 
could  gather  flowers   from  the  garden  to  brighten 
a  sick-room,  or  in  the  lovely  spring  days  load  her 
basket   with  primroses    and    bluebells  and  so  carry 
the  scent  of  the  woods  to  some  delicate  girl  who, 
like  Tennyson's    May    Queen,  was  pining   for  the 

3 


34        LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

sight  of  field  and  hedgerow  and  the  flowers 
which  grew  but  a  little  distance  from  her  cottage 
door. 

Such  attentions  to  the  fancies  of  the  sick  were 
little  thought  of  in  those  times,  before  flower 
missions  had  come  into  vogue,  or  the  necessity 
for  cheering  the  patients  by  pleasing  the  eye,  as 
well  as  tending  the  body,  was  recognised,  but  in 
that,  as  in  much  else,  our  heroine  v/as  in  advance 
of  her  time.  Her  love  of  flowers,  like  fondness 
for  animals,  was  a  part  of  her  nature  :  it  came  too 
as  a  fitting  heritage  from  the  city  of  flowers  under 
whose  sunny  sky  she  had  been  born. 

Both  at  Embley  and  Lea  Hurst,  Florence  and 
her  sister  had  their  own  little  gardens,  in  which 
they  digged  and  sowed  and  planted  to  their  hearts' 
delight,  and  in  summer  they  ran  about  with  their 
miniature  watering  cans,  bestowing,  doubtless,  an 
almost  equal  supply  on  their  own  tiny  feet  as 
on  the  parched  ground.  In  after  years  this  early 
love  of  flowers  had  its  pathetic  sequel.  When, 
after  months  of  exhausting  work  amongst  the 
suffering  soldiers,  Florence  Nightingale  lay  in  a 
hut  on  the  heights  of  Balaclava,  prostrate  with 
Crimean  fever,  she  relates  that  she  first  began  to 
rally  after  receiving  a  bunch  of  flowers  from  a 
friend,  and  that  the  sight  of  them  beside  her  sick 
couch  helped  her  to   throw  off  the  languor   which 


THE  DAYS   OF  CHILDHOOD  35 

had  nearly  proved  fatal.  She  dated  her  recovery 
from  that  hour. 

In  every  respect  the  circumstances  of  Florence 
Nightingale's  childhood  were  calculated  to  fit  her 
for  the  destiny  which  lay  in  the  future.  Not  only 
was  she  reared  among  scenes  of  exceptional  beauty 
in  both  her  Derbyshire  and  her  Hampshire  homes 
and  taught  the  privilege  of  ministering  to  the  poor 
and  sick,  but  she  was  mentally  trained  in  advance 
of  the  custom  of  the  day.  Without  that  equipment 
she  could  not  have  held  the  commanding  position 
which  she  attained  in  the  work  of  army  nursing  and 
organisation. 

She  and  her  sister  Frances,  being  so  near  in 
age,  did  their  lessons  together.  Their  education 
was  conducted  entirely  at  home  under  a  private 
governess,  and  was  assiduously  supervised  by  their 
father.  Mr.  Nightingale  was  a  man  of  broad 
sympathies,  artistic  and  intellectual  tastes,  and  much 
general  cultivation,  and,  having  no  sons,  he  made 
a  hobby  of  giving  a  classical  education  to  his  girls, 
and  found  a  fertile  soil  in  the  quick  brain  of  his 
daughter  Florence.  He  was  a  strict  disciplinarian, 
and  none  of  the  desultory  ways  which  characterised 
the  home  education  of  young  ladies  in  the  early 
Victorian  days  was  allowed  in  the  schoolrooms  at 
Embley  and  Lea  Hurst.  Rules  were  rigidly  fixed 
for    lessons  and  play,  and   careless  work  was  never 


36        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

passed  unpunished.  It  was  in  the  days  of  child- 
hood that  the  future  heroine  of  the  Crimea  laid 
the  foundation  of  an  orderly  mind  and  a  habit  of 
method  which  served  her  so  admirably  when  sud- 
denly called  to  organise  the  ill-regulated  hospital  at 
Scutari. 

As  a  child  Florence  excelled  in  the  more  in- 
tellectual branches  of  education  and  showed  a  great 
aptitude  for  foreign  languages.  She  attained  credit- 
able proficiency  in  music  and  was  clever  at  drawing, 
but  in  these  artistic  branches  her  elder  sister  Frances 
excelled  most.  From  her  father  Florence  learned 
elementary  science,  Greek,  Latin,  and  mathematics, 
and  under  his  guidance,  seated  in  the  dear  old 
library  at  Lea  Hurst,  made  the  acquaintance  of 
standard  authors  and  poets.  But  doubtless  the 
sisters  got  an  occasional  romance  not  included  in 
the  paternal  list  and  read  it  with  glowing  cheeks 
and  sparkling  eyes  in  a  secluded  nook  in  the 
garden. 

If  study  was  made  a  serious  business,  the  sisters 
enjoyed  to  the  full  the  healthy  advantages  of  country 
life.  They  scampered  about  the  park  with  their 
dogs,  rode  their  ponies  over  hill  and  dale,  spent 
long  days  in  the  woods  amongst  the  bluebells 
and  primroses,  and  in  summer  tumbled  about  in 
the  sweet-scented  hay.  During  the  summer  at 
Lea  Hurst,  lessons  were  a  little  relaxed  in  favour 


THE  DAYS   OF  CHILDHOOD  37 

of  outdoor  life,  but  on  the  return  to  Embley  for 
the  winter,  schoolroom  routine  was  again  enforced 
on  very  strict  lines. 

Mrs.  Nightingale  supervised  the  domestic  side 
of  her  little  girls'  education,  and  before  Florence 
was  twelve  years  old  she  could  hemstitch  and  seam, 
embroider  bookmarkers,  and  had  worked  several 
creditable  samplers.  Her  mother  trained  her  too 
in  matters  of  deportment,  and  nothing  was  omitted 
in  her  early  years  which  would  tend  to  mould  her 
into  a  graceful  and  accomplished  girl. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE  SQUIRE'S  DAUGHTER 

An  Accomplished  Girl — An  Angel  in  the  Homes  of  the  Poor — 
Children's  "Feast  Day"  at  Lea  Hurst— Her  Bible-Class  for 
Girls — Interests  at  Embley — Society  Life — Longing  for  a 
Vocation — Meets  Elizabeth  Fry — Studies  Hospital  Nursing — 
Decides  to  go  to  Kaiserswerth. 

God  made  her  so, 
And  deeds  of  week-day  holiness 
Fall  from  her  gentle  as  the  snow ; 
Nor  hath  she  ever  chanced  to  know 
That  aught  were  easier  than  to  bless. 

Lowell. 

WHEN  Florence  Nightingale  reached  her 
seventeenth  year  she  began  to  take  her 
place  as  the  squire's  daughter,  mingling  in  the 
county  society  of  Derbyshire  and  Hampshire  and 
interesting  herself  in  the  people  and  schools  of 
her  father's  estates.  She  soon  acquired  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  a  very  lovable  young  lady  as  well 
as  a  very  talented  one.  She  had  travelled  abroad, 
could  speak  French,  German,  and  Italian,  sang 
very  sweetly,  and  was  clever  at  sketching,  and  when 

38 


THE  SQUIRES  DAUGHTER  39 

the  taking  of  photographs  became  a  fashionable 
pastime,  "  Miss  Florence "  became  an  enthusiast 
for  the  art.  There  were  no  hand-cameras  in  those 
days  and  no  clean  and  easy  methods  for  developing, 
and  young  lady  amateur  photographers  were  obliged 
to  dress  for  their  work.  Nothing  daunted  "  Miss 
Florence,"  and  she  photographed  groups  on  the 
lawn  and  her  pet  animals  to  the  admiration  of  her 
family  and  friends,  if  sometimes  to  the  discoloration 
of  her  dainty  fingers. 

She  was  also  a  skilful  needlewoman,  and  worked 
cushions  and  slippers,  mastered  the  finest  and  most 
complicated  crochet  patterns,  sewed  delicate  em- 
broideries, and  achieved  almost  invisible  hems  on 
muslin  frills.  At  Christmas-time  her  work-basket 
was  full  of  warm  comforts  for  the  poor.  She  was 
invaluable  at  bazaars,  then  a  newly  introduced  method 
of  raising  money  for  religious  purposes,  and  was 
particularly  happy  at  organising  treats  for  the  old 
people  and  children. 

The  local  clergy,  both  at  Embley  and  Lea,  found 
the  squire's  younger  daughter  a  great  help  in  the 
parish.  The  traits  of  character  which  had  shown 
themselves  in  the  little  girl  who  tended  the  shep- 
herd's injured  dog,  and  was  so  ready  with  her 
sympathy  for  all  who  suffered  or  were  in  trouble, 
became  strengthened  in  the  budding  woman  and 
made    Florence    Nightingale    regarded  as  an  angel 


40        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

in  the  homes  of  the  poor.  Her  visits  to  the 
cottages  were  eagerly  looked  for,  and  she  showed 
even  in  her  teens  a  genius  for  district  visiting. 
The  people  regarded  her  not  as  the  '^  visiting  lady," 
whom  they  were  to  impress  with  feigned  woes  or 
a  pretence  of  abject  poverty,  but  as  a  real  friend 
who  came  to  bring  pleasure  to  their  homes  and 
to  enter  into  their  family  joys  and  sorrows.  She 
had  a  bright  and  witty  way  of  talking  which  made 
the  poor  folks  look  forward  to  her  visits  quite  apart 
from  the  favours  she  might  bring. 

If  there  was  sickness  or  sorrow  in  any  cottage 
home,  the  presence  of  "  Miss  Florence  "  was  eagerly 
sought,  for  even  at  this  period  she  had  made  some 
study  of  sick  nursing  and  "  seemed,"  as  the  people 
said,  *'  to  have  a  way  with  her "  which  eased  pain 
and  brought  comfort  and  repose  to  those  who  were 
suffering.  She  had,  too,  such  a  clear,  sweet  voice 
and  sympathetic  intonation  that  the  sick  derived 
great  pleasure  when  she  read  to  them. 

As  quite  a  young  girl  the  bent  of  her  mind  was 
in  the  direction  of  leading  a  useful  and  beneficent 
life.  She  was  in  no  danger  of  suffering  from  the 
ennui  which  beset  so  many  girls  of  the  leisured 
classes  in  those  times,  when  there  was  so  little  in 
the  way  of  outdoor  sport  and  amusements  or  inde- 
pendent interests  to  fill  up  time.  In  whatsoever 
circumstances  of  life  Florence  Nightingale  had  been 


THE  SQUIRES  DAUGHTER  41 

placed,  her  nature  would  have  prompted  her  to 
discover  useful  occupation. 

The  *'  old  squire,"  as  Mr.  Nightingale  is  still 
called  at  Lea,  took  a  great  interest  in  the  village 
school,  and  Florence  became  his  right  hand  in 
looking  after  the  amusements  of  the  children. 
There  were  many  little  treats  devised  for  them 
from  time  to  time,  but  the  great  event  of  the  year 
was  the  children's  "  feast  day,"  when  the  scholars 
assembled  at  the  school-house  and  walked  in  pro- 
cession to  Lea  Hurst,  carrying  "  posies "  in  their 
hands  and  sticks  wreathed  with  garlands  of  flowers. 
A  band  provided  by  the  squire  headed  the  procession. 
Arrived  at  Lea  Hurst,  the  company  were  served 
with  tea  in  the  field  below  the  garden,  Mrs.  Night- 
ingale and  her  daughters  assisting  the  servants  to 
wait  upon  their  guests.  After  tea,  the  band  struck  up 
lively  airs  and  the  lads  and  lasses  danced  in  a  style 
which  recalled  the  olden  times  in  Merrie  England, 
while  the  squire  and  his  family  beamed  approval. 

Then  there  were  games  for  the  little  ones  devised 
by  "  Miss  Florence,"  who  took  upon  herself  their 
special  entertainment ;  and  so  the  summer  evening 
passed  away  in  delightful  mirth  and  recreation  until 
the  crimson  clouds  began  to  glow  over  the  beautiful 
Derwent  valley,  and  the  children  re-formed  in 
line  and  marched  up  the  garden  to  the  top  terrace 
of  the  lawn.       Meantime    "  Miss    Florence "    and 


42        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

"  Miss  Frances  "  had  mysteriously  disappeared,  and 
now  they  were  seen  standing  on  the  terrace  behind  a 
long  table  laden  with  presents.  As  the  procession 
filed  past,  each  child  received  a  gift  from  one  or  other 
of  the  young  ladies,  and  there  were  kindly  words 
from  the  squire  and  gracious  smiles  from  Mrs. 
Nightingale  and  much  bobbing  of  curtseys  by  the 
delighted  children,  and  so  the  "  feast  day "  ended 
in  mutual  joy  and  pleasure. 

The  scene  was  described  to  me  by  an  old  lady 
who  had  many  times  as  a  child  attended  this 
pretty  entertainment  at  Lea  Hurst,  and  still  treasures 
the  little  gifts — fancy  boxes,  books,  thimble  cases 
and  the  like — which  she  had  received  from  the 
hands  of  the  then  beloved  and  now  deeply  reverenced 
*'Miss  Florence."  She  recalls  what  a  sweet  young 
lady  she  was,  with  her  glossy  brown  hair  smoothed 
down  each  side  of  her  face,  and  often  a  rose  placed 
at  the  side,  amongst  the  neat  plaits  or  coils.  Her 
appearance  at  this  period  can  be  judged  from  the 
pencil  sketch  by  her  sister,  afterwards  Lady  Verney, 
in  which,  despite  the  quaint  attire,  one  recognises 
a  tall,  graceful  girl  of  charm  and  intelligence. 

Li  Derbyshire,  Florence  Nightingale's  interest  in 
Church  work  was  divided  between  the  historic  little 
church  of  Dethick,  described  in  a  former  chapter, 
and  the  beautiful  church  which  Sir  Richard 
Arkwright  had  built  at   Cromford  on  the  opposite 


THE  SQUIRES  DAUGHTER  43 

side  of  the  river  from  his  castle  of  Willersley. 
To-day,  Cromford  Church  is  thickly  covered  with 
ivy  and  embowered  in  trees,  and,  standing  on  the 
river  bank  with  greystone  rocks  towering  on  one 
side  and  the  wooded  heights  of  Willersley  on 
the  other,  presents  a  mellowed  and  picturesque 
appearance.  In  our  heroine's  girlhood  it  was 
comparatively  new  and  regarded  as  the  wonder  of 
the  district  for  the  architectural  taste  and  decoration 
which  Sir  Richard  had  lavished  upon  it.  The  great 
cotton-spinner  himself  had  been  laid  beneath  its 
chancel  in  1792,  but  an  Arkwright  reigned  at 
Willersley  Castle  in  Miss  Nightingale's  youth — as 
indeed  there  does  to-day — and  carried  on  the 
beneficent  schemes  of  the  founder  for  the  people 
of  the  district.  Then  the  Arkwright  Mills — long 
since  disused — gave  employment  to  hundreds  of 
people,  and  the  now  sleepy  little  town  of  Cromford 
was  alive  with  an  industrial  population.  It  was 
something  of  a  model  village,  as  the  neat  rows 
of  low  stone  houses  which  flank  Cromford  hill 
testify,  and  there  were  schools,  reading-rooms,  and 
other  means  devised  for  the  betterment  of  the 
people.  Many  schemes  originated  with  the  vicar 
and  patron  of  Cromford  Church,  and  the  young 
ladies  from  Lea  Hurst  sometimes  assisted  at 
entertainments. 

We  may    imagine    "  Miss   Florence "    when    she 


44        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

drove  with  her  parents  down  to  Cromford  Church 
making  a  very  pretty  picture  indeed,  dressed  in 
her  summer  musHn,  with  a  silk  spencer  crossed  over 
her  maiden  breast  and  her  sweet,  placid  face  beam- 
ing from  out  the  recesses  of  a  Leghorn  bonnet, 
wreathed  with  roses. 

It  was,  however,  in  connection  with  the  church 
of  Dethick  and  the  adjoining  parishes  of  Lea  and 
Holloway  that  Florence  Nightingale  did  most  of 
her  philanthropic  work.  This  district  was  peculiarly 
her  father's  domain,  and  also  embraced  the  church 
and  village  of  Crich.  Like  Cromford,  it  was  the 
seat  of  a  village  industry.  Immediately  below  Lea 
Hurst  were  Smedley's  hosiery  mills,  which  em- 
ployed hundreds  of  women  and  girls,  many  of 
whom  lived  on  the  Nightingale  estate,  and  Miss 
Florence  took  great  interest  in  their  welfare.  As 
she  grew  into  womanhood,  she  started  a  Bible-class 
for  the  young  women  of  the  district,  holding  it 
in  the  old  building  at  Lea  LIurst  known  as  the 
*'  chapel."  The  class  was  unsectarian,  for  "  Smedley's 
people,"  following  the  example  of  their  master, 
"  Dr. "  John  Smedley,  were  chiefly  Methodists. 
Hov/ever,  religious  differences  were  not  bitter  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  Miss  Nightingale  welcomed 
to  her  class  all  young  girls  who  were  disposed  to 
come,  whether  their  parents  belonged  to  "  chapel " 
or  "  church." 


THE  SQUIRE'S  DAUGHTER  45 

The  memory  of  those  Sunday  afternoons,  as  they 
sat  in  the  tiny  stone  *'  chapel "  overlooking  the 
sunny  lawns  and  gardens  of  Lea  Hurst,  listening 
to  the  beautiful  expositions  of  Scripture  which  fell 
from  their  beloved  *'  Miss  Florence,"  or  following 
her  sweet  voice  in  sacred  song,  is  green  in  the 
hearts  of  a  few  elderly  people  in  the  neighbourhood. 
A  softness  comes  into  their  voice,  and  a  smile  of 
pleasure  lights  up  their  wrinkled  faces,  as  they 
tell  you  how  "  beautifully  Miss  Florence  used  to 
talk."  In  years  long  after,  when  she  returned  for 
holiday  visits  to  Lea  Hurst,  nothing  gave  Miss 
Nightingale  greater  pleasure  than  for  the  young 
girls  of  the  district,  some  of  them  daughters  of 
her  former  scholars,  to  come  on  summer  Sunday 
afternoons  and  sing  on  the  lawn  at  Lea  Hurst  as 
she  sat  in  her  room  above.  Infirmity  prevented 
her  from  mingling  with  them,  but  the  girls  were 
pleased  if  they  could  only  catch  a  sight  of  her 
face  smiling   down    from  the  window. 

During  the  winter  months  spent  in  her  Hamp- 
shire home,  Florence  Nightingale  was  also  active 
amongst  the  sick  poor  and  the  young  people. 
Embley  Park  is  near  the  town  of  Romsey,  in  the 
parish  of  East  Willow,  and  Mr.  Nightingale  and 
his  family  attended  that  church.  *'  Miss  Florence  " 
had  many  friends  amongst  the  cottagers,  and  a  few 
of  the   old   people    still    recall    seeing    the  "  young 


46        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

ladies  "  riding  about  on  their  ponies,  and  stopping 
with  kind  inquiries  at  some  of  the  house  doors. 
Although  the  sisters  were  such  close  companions, 
it  is  always  *'  Miss  Florence  "  who  is  remembered 
as  the  chief  benefactress.  She  had  the  happy  gift 
for  gaining  the  love  of  the  people,  and  the  instinct 
for  giving  the  right  sort  of  help,  though  "  Miss 
Frances  "  was  no  less  kind-hearted. 

At  Christmas,  Embley  Park  was  a  centre  from 
which  radiated  much  good  cheer.  "  Florence " 
was  gay  indeed,  as,  in  ermine  tippet  and  muff  and 
beaver  hat,  she  helped  to  distribute  the  parcels  of 
tea  and  the  warm  petticoats  to  the  old  women. 
She  devised  Christmas  entertainments  for  the  children 
and  assisted  in  treats  for  the  workhouse  poor.  Local 
carol-singers  received  a  warm  welcome  at  Embley, 
especially  from  Miss  Florence,  who  would  come  into 
the  hall  to  see  the  mince-pies  and  coin  distributed 
as  she  chatted  with  the  humble  performers.  Training 
the  boys  and  girls  to  sing  was  to  her  a  matter  of 
special  interest,  and  she  did  much  in  those  far- 
away days  to  promote  a  love  of  music  amongst 
the  villagers  both  at  Lea  Hurst  and  Embley.  It 
would  afford  her  pleasure  to-day  could  she  listen 
to  the  well-trained  band  formed  by  the  mill-workers 
at  Lea,  which  one  hears  discoursing  sweet  music 
outside  the  mills  on  a  summer's  eveninof. 

Embley   overlooked  the   hills    of   the    Wiltshire 


THE  SQUIRES  DAUGHTER  47 

border,  and  the  cathedral  city  of  Salisbury,  only 
some  thirteen  miles  distant,  afforded  Miss  Nightin- 
gale a  wider  field  of  philanthropic  interest.  She  was 
always  willing  to  take  part  in  beneficent  work  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  the  children's  hospital  and 
other  schemes  founded  and  conducted  by  her  friends 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Herbert,  afterwards  Lord 
and  Lady  Herbert  of  Lea,  formed  a  special  interest 
for  her  in  the  years  immediately  preceding  the  out- 
break of  the  Crimean  War. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  in  the 
early  years  of  her  womanhood  Miss  Nightingale 
gave  herself  up  entirely  to  religious  and  philan- 
thropic work,  though  it  formed  a  serious  back- 
ground to  her  social  life.  Mr.  Nightingale,  as 
a  man  of  wealth  and  influence,  liked  to  see  his 
wife  and  daughters  taking  part  in  county  society. 
During  the  winter  he  entertained  a  good  deal  at 
Embley,  which  was  a  much  larger  and  handsomer 
residence  than  Lea  Hurst.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nightin- 
gale had  a  large  circle  of  friends,  and  their  house 
was  noted  as  a  place  of  genial  hospitality,  while 
their  charming  and  accomplished  daughters  attracted 
many  admirers. 

The  family  did  not  confine  themselves  only  to 
county  society.  They  sometimes  came  to  London 
for  the  season,  and  Florence  and  her  sister  made 
their    curtsey    to    Queen     Victoria    when    in    the 


48        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

heyday  of  her  early  married  life,  and  entered  into 
the  gaieties  of  the  time. 

However,  as  the  years  passed  by  Florence 
Nightingale  cared  less  and  less  for  the  excitement 
and  pleasures  of  society.  Her  nature  had  begun  to 
crave  for  some  definite  work  and  a  more  extended 
field  of  activity  than  she  found  in  private  life. 
Two  severe  illnesses  among  members  of  her  family 
had  developed  her  nursing  faculty,  and  when  they 
no  longer  required  her  attention,  she  turned  to  a 
systematic  study  of  nursing. 

To-day  it  seems  almost  impossible  to  realise 
how  novel  was  the  idea  of  a  woman  of  birth  and 
education  becoming  a  nurse.  Miss  Nightingale  was 
a  pioneer  of  the  pioneers.  She  herself  had  not 
then  any  clear  course  before  her  for  the  future, 
but  she  realised  the  important  point  that  she  could 
not  hope  to  accomplish  anything  without  training. 
The  faculty  was  necessary  and  the  desire  to  be 
helpful  to  the  sick  and  suffering,  but  a  trained 
knowledge  was  the  important  thing.  In  a  letter 
which  Miss  Nightingale  wrote  in  after  years  to 
young  women  on  the  subject  of  "  Work  and  Duty  " 
she  remarked  :  "  I  would  say  to  all  young  ladies 
who  are  called  to  any  particular  vocation,  qualify 
yourselves  for  it  as  a  man  does  for  his  work.  Don't 
think  you  can  undertake  it  otherwise.  Submit 
yourselves  to  the  rules  of  business  as  men  do,  by 


MISS    NIGHTINGALE. 
{From  a  Drawing.) 


[To  face  p.  48. 


THE  SQUIRE'S  DAUGHTER  49 

which  alone  you  can  make  God's  business  succeed  ; 
for  He  has  never  said  that  he  will  give  His  success 
and  his  blessing  to  sketchy  and  unfinished  work." 
And  on  another  occasion  she  wrote  :  "  Three-fourths 
of  the  whole  mischief  in  women's  lives  arises  from 
their  excepting  themselves  from  the  rules  of  training 
considered  needful  for  men." 

This  was  the  spirit  in  which  Miss  Nightingale 
entered  upon  her  chosen  work,  for  she  was  the 
last  person  to  '^preach  and  not  practise."  The 
advice  which  she  gave  to  other  women,  when  she 
had  herself  risen  to  the  head  of  her  profession,  had 
been  the  guiding  influence  of  her  own  probation. 

The  beneficent  work  which  distinguished  her  as 
the  squire's  daughter  had  given  her  useful  ex- 
perience, and  had  opened  her  eyes  to  the  need  of 
trained  nurses  for  the  sick  poor.  What  is  now 
called  "  district  nursing  "  at  this  period  exercised  the 
mind  of  Florence  Nightingale,  and  her  attention 
to  military  nursing  was  called  forth  later  by  a 
national  emergency. 

It  was  at  this  critical  period  of  her  life,  when 
her  mind  was  shaping  itself  to  such  high  purpose, 
that  Florence  Nightingale  met  Elizabeth  Fry.  The 
first  grasping  of  hands  of  these  two  pioneer  women 
would  serve  as  subject  for  a  painter.  We  picture 
the  stately  and  beautiful  old  Quakeress  in  the  char- 
acteristic garb  of  the   Friends  extending   a    sisterly 

4 


so        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

welcome  to  the  young  and  earnest  woman  who 
came  to  learn  at  her  feet.  The  one  was  fast 
drawing  to  the  close  of  her  great  work  for  the 
women  prisoners,  and  the  other  stood  on  the 
threshold  of  a  philanthropic  career  to  be  equally 
distinguished.  We  have  no  detailed  record  of 
what  words  were  spoken  at  this  meeting,  but  we 
know  that  the  memory  of  the  heavenly  personality 
of  Elizabeth  Fry  was  an  ever-present  inspiration 
with  Florence  Nightingale  in  the  years  which 
followed. 

It  was  a  meeting  of  kindred  spirits,  but  of 
distinct  individuahties.  We  do  not  find  Miss  Night- 
ingale making  any  attempt  to  take  up  the  mantle 
fast  falhng  from  the  experienced  philanthropist  : 
she  had  her  own  line  of  pioneer  work  forming  in 
her  capable  brain,  but  was  eager  to  glean  some- 
thing from  the  wide  experience  through  which  her 
revered  friend  had  passed.  Mrs.  Fry  had  during 
the  past  few  years  been  visiting  prisons  and 
institutions  on  the  Continent,  and  had  established 
a  small  training  home  for  nurses  in  London.  She 
was  a  friend  of  Pastor  Fliedner,  the  founder  of 
Kaiserswerth,  and  had  visited  that  institution.  The 
account  of  his  work,  and  of  the  order  of  Protestant 
deaconesses  which  he  had  founded  for  tending  the 
sick  poor,  given  by  Mrs.  Fry,  made  a  profound 
impression  on   Florence   Nightingale,  and   resulted 


THE  SQUIRE'S  DAUGHTER  51 

a  few  years  later  in  her  enrolment  as  a  voluntary 
nurse  at  that  novel  institution 

In  the  meantime  she  studied  the  hospital  system 
at   home,    spending    some    months   in    the   leading 
London  hospitals  and   visiting  those   in  Edinburgh 
and   Dublin.      Then    she    undertook   a  lengthened 
tour    abroad    and    saw    the    different   working    of 
institutions  for  the  sick  in   France,  Germany,  and 
Italy.     The  comparison  was  not  favourable  to  this 
country.     The  nursing  in  our  hospitals  was  largely 
in  the  hands  of  the  coarsest  type   of  women,   not 
only    untrained,    but   callous    in    feeling   and    often 
grossly    immoral.      There  was   little    to  counteract 
their    baneful    influence,    and    the    atmosphere    of 
institutions  which,   as   the  abodes  of  the  sick  and 
dying,  had  special  need  of  spiritual  and   elevating 
influences,    was    of   a    degrading    character.      The 
occasional    visits    of  a  chaplain  could   not   do  very 
much    to    counteract    the    behaviour    of    the    un- 
principled nurse  ever  at  the  bedside.     The  habitual 
drunkenness  of  these  women  was  then  proverbial, 
while  the  dirt  and  disorder  rampant  in  the  wards 
was  calculated  to  breed  disease.     The  "  profession," 
if  the    nursing   of  that   day    can    claim   a    title    so 
dignified,   had   such   a  stigma  attaching  to    it   that 
no  decent  woman  cared  to  enter  it,  and  if  she  did, 
it  was    more  than  likely   that    she  would   lose  her 
character. 


52        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

In  contrast  to  this  repulsive  class  of  women, 
whom  Miss  Nightingale  had  encountered  to  her 
horror  in  the  hospitals  of  London,  Edinburgh, 
and  Dublin,  and  to  the  *'Salrey  Gamps"  who 
were  the  only  ''  professional "  nurses  available  for 
the  middle  classes  in  their  own  homes,  she  found 
on  the  Continent  the  sweet-faced  Sister  of  Charity 
— pious,  educated,  trained. 

For  centuries  the  Roman  Catholic  community 
had  trained  and  set  apart  holy  women  for  minister- 
ing to  the  sick  poor  in  their  own  homes,  and  had 
established  hospitals  supplied  with  the  same  type 
of  nurse.  A  large  number  of  these  women  were 
ladies  of  birth  and  breeding  who  worked  for  the 
good  of  their  souls  and  the  welfare  of  their  Church, 
while  all  received  proper  education  and  training,  and 
had  abjured  the  world  for  a  religious  life.  An 
excellent  example  of  the  work  done  by  the  nun- 
nurses  is  seen  in  the  quaint  old-world  hospital  of 
St.  John,  with  which  visitors  to  Bruges  are  familiar. 
It  was  one  of  the  institutions  visited  by  Miss 
Nightingale,  and,  religious  differences  apart,  she 
viewed  with  profound  admiration  the  beneficent 
work  of  the  sisters. 

After  pursuing  her  investigations  from  city  to 
city,  Miss  Nightingale  decided  to  take  a  course 
of  instruction  at  the  recently  founded  institution  for 
deaconesses   at  Kaiserswerth  on  the  Rhine.     There 


THE  SQUIRES  DAUGHTER  53 

a  Protestant  sisterhood  were  working  on  similar 
lines  to  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  had  already  done 
much  to  mitigate  the  poverty,  sickness,  and  misery 
in  their  own  district,  and  were  beginning  to  extend 
their  influence  to  other  German  towns.  At  Kaisers- 
werth  the  ideal  system  of  trained  sick  nursing  which 
Miss  Nightingale  had  been  forming  in  her  own 
mind  was  an  accomplished  fact. 


CHAPTER    VI 

FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALES  ALMA   MATER  AND 
ITS  FOUNDER 

Enrolled  a  Deaconess  at  Kaisersvverth — Paster  Fliedner — His  Early 
Life — Becomes  Pastor  at  Kaisersvverth — Interest  in  Prison 
Reform — Starts  a  Small  Penitentiary  for  Discharged  Female 
Prisoners — Founds  a  School  and  the  Deaconess  Hospital — Rules 
for  Deaconesses — Marvellous  Extension  of  his  Work — His  Death 
— Miss  Nightingale's  Tribute. 

Just  precepts  thus  from  great  examples  given, 
She  drew  from  them  what  they  derived  from  Heaven. 

Pope. 

THE  year  1849  proved  a  memorable  one  in 
the  career  of  Florence  Nightingale,  for  it  was 
then  that  she  enrolled  herself  as  a  voluntary  nurse 
in  the  Deaconess  Institution  at  Kaiserswerth  on  the 
Rhine,  which  may  be  described  as  her  Alma  Mater. 
It  was  the  first  training  school  for  sick  nurses 
established  in  modern  times,  and  it  seems  a  happy 
conjunction  of  circumstances  that  she  who  was 
destined  to  hold  the  blue  riband  of  the  nursing 
sisterhood  of  the  world  should  have  studied  within 
its  walls. 

54 


HER  ALMA   MATER 


55 


Although  she  had  already  gained  valuable  insight 
into  hospital  work  and  management  during  her 
visits  to  various   hospitals  at   home  and  abroad,  it 


PASTOR    FLIEDNER,    FOUNDER   OF   KAISERWERTH. 

was  not  until  she  came  to  Kaiser swerth  that  she 
found  her  ideals  realised.  Here  was  a  Protestant 
institution  which  had   all   the   good   points   of  the 


S6        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Roman  Catholic  sisterhoods  without  their  restrictions. 
It  further  commended  itself  as  being  under  the 
guidance  of  Pastor  Fhedner,  a  man  of  simple  and 
devoted  piety  and  a  born  philanthropist. 

He  had  had  the  perspicacity  to  see  that  the  world 
needed  the  services  of  trained  women  to  grapple 
with  the  evils  of  vice  and  disease,  and  to  this  end 
he  revived  the  office  of  deaconess  which  had  been 
instituted  by  the  early  Christian  Church.  The 
idea  of  training  women  to  minister  to  the  sick  and 
the  poor  seems  natural  enough  to-day,  but  in  Miss 
Nightingale's  young  womanhood  it  was  entirely 
novel.  The  district  nurse  had  not  then  been 
invented.  The  Kaiserswerth  institution  combined 
hospital  routine  and  instruction  with  beneficent  work 
among  the  poor  and  the  outcast. 

Pastor  Fliedner,  the  founder,  was  indeed  a  kindred 
spirit,  and  it  seems  fitting  to  give  a  little  account 
of  the  man  who  exercised  such  a  remarkable 
influence  over  our  heroine  in  the  days  of  her 
probation.  Theodore  Fliedner  was  just  twenty  years 
her  senior,  having  been  born  in  1 800  at  Eppstein, 
a  small  village  near  the  Rhine.  He  was  *'a  son 
of  the  manse,"  both  his  father  and  grandfather 
having  been  Lutheran  clergymen.  At  an  early 
age  he  showed  a  desire  to  become  a  power  for 
good  in  the  world,  and  his  sensitive  feelings  were 
much  hurt   when   a   child,    by  his  father   playfully 


HER  ALMA   MATER  57 

calling  him  "the  little  beer-brewer'*  on  account 
of  his  plump  round  figure.  The  jest  caused  little 
Theodore  much  heart-searching  and  made  him  feel 
that  his  nature  must  be  very  carnal  and  in  need  of 
great  discipline.  In  these  days  he  would  probably 
have  resorted  to  Sandow's  exercises  or  a  bicycle. 

Of  course  Theodore  was  poor  and  had  to  work 
his  way  from  school  to  college.  He  studied  at 
the  Universities  of  Giessen  and  Gottingen,  giving 
instruction  in  return  for  food  and  lodging,  and  was 
not  above  doing  manual  labour  also.  He  sawed 
wood,  blacked  boots,  and  did  other  odd  jobs.  He 
also  mended  his  own  clothes,  but  in  a  somewhat 
primitive  fashion,  for  in  a  letter  to  his  mother  he 
says  that  he  sewed  up  the  holes  in  his  trousers 
with  white  thread  which  he  afterwards  inked  over. 
His  vacations  were  spent  in  tramping  long  distances 
and  subsisting  on  the  barest  necessaries  of  life, 
in  order  to  gain  an  acquaintance  with  the  world. 
He  studied  foreign  languages,  read  widely,  and  as 
a  college  student  showed  the  after  bent  of  his  mind 
by  collecting  songs  and  games  for  children  which 
later  were  used  in  his  own  kindergarten,  and  have 
spread  throughout  the  world.  He  also  learned 
the  use  of  herbs  and  acquired  much  homely  know- 
ledge on  the  treatment  of  disease. 

After    leaving    college    he    became    tutor    in    a 
private   family  at   Cologne,  and  the  mother  of  his 


58        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

pupils  took  his  deportment  in  hand.  Possibly  this 
lady  had  physical  culture  views  about  the  rotundity 
of  his  figure.  However,  Theodore  in  speaking  of 
the  benefit  derived  from  lessons  in  deportment 
quaintly  confesses  that  ^'  gentle  ways  and  polite 
manners  help  greatly  to  further  the  kingdom  of 
God."  While  at  Cologne  he  assisted  a  clergyman 
of  the  place  in  parish  work,  and  occasionally 
preached  in  the  prison,  thus  gaining  an  insight 
into  the  unhappy  condition  of  discharged  prisoners 
which  inspired  his  later  beneficent  work  on  their 
behalf 

When  he  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-two, 
Theodore  Fliedner  received  a  call  to  become  the  pastor 
of  a  struggling  Protestant  community  at  the  little 
town  of  Kaiserswerth  on  the  Rhine,  near  Diisseldorf, 
which  he  accepted.  At  Eppstein,  his  native  village, 
he  was  ordained,  surrounded  by  a  delighted  family 
circle.  It  is  characteristic  that  the  young  pastor 
set  out  on  foot  for  Kaiserswerth,  and  arrived  before 
he  was  expected  in  order  to  save  his  parishioners 
the  expense  of  giving  him  a  reception. 

His  position  was  humbler  even  than  Goldsmith's 
Vicar,  for  he  received  the  modest  yearly  stipend 
of  1 80  thaler  {£2^)^  and  had  to  share  the  parsonage 
with  the  mother  of  his  predecessor,  while  in 
order  to  relieve  his  own  widowed  mother  he 
took    two   younger    brothers    and   a    sister  to   live 


HER  ALMA   MATER  59 

with  him.  Hardly  was  his  modest  household 
arranged,  than  a  velvet-factory  upon  which  the 
Protestant  population  of  Kaiserswerth  depended 
failed,  and  the  young  pastor  found  himself  with 
a  destitute  flock.  He  received  two  other  calls, 
but  his  heart  was  fixed  at  Kaiserswerth,  and  he 
determined  to  set  forth  staff  in  hand  like  the 
Apostles,  and  tramp  through  the  Protestant  countries 
seeking  aid  for  his  people.  He  visited  Germany, 
Holland,  and  England,  and  received  help  and 
encouragement. 

The  most  important  friendship  which  the  young 
Lutheran  pastor  made  in  London  was  with  Eliza- 
beth Fry.  The  work  of  this  noble  philanthropist 
amongst  the  prisoners  of  Newgate  was  a  revelation 
to  him,  and  he  returned  to  his  parish  of  Kaiserswerth 
burning  with  zeal  to  do  something  for  the  prisoners 
of  his  own  land.  He  began  work  in  the  neigh- 
bouring prison  of  Diisseldorf,  where  he  became 
a  regular  visitor  and  started  services.  On  June 
26th,  1826,  he  was  instrumental  in  founding  at 
Dusseldorf  the  first  German  society  for  improving 
prison  discipline. 

The  great  problem  which  confronted  him  was 
how  to  protect  the  discharged  female  prisoners 
from  the  life  of  evil  to  which  their  unhappy 
circumstances  drove  them  when  the  term  of  their 
imprisonment  ended.     They  had  as  a  rule  neither 


6o        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

home  nor  protector,  and  were  cast  upon  the 
world  with  the  prisoner's  brand  upon  them.  He 
determnied  to  devote  himself  to  the  rescue  and 
protection  of  these  unfortunate  women. 

In  September  of  1833  he  began  his  experiment 
by  preparing  with  his  own  hands  an  old  summer- 
house,  some  twelve  feet  square,  which  stood  in  a 
retired  part  of  his  garden  as  a  refuge  for  discharged 
female  prisoners.  He  protected  it  from  wind  and 
rain,  made  it  clean  and  habitable,  and  placing  there 
a  bed,  a  table,  and  a  chair,  prayed  that  God  would 
direct  some  outcast  wanderer  to  its  shelter.  One 
night  a  poor  forlorn  woman  presented  herself,  and 
the  pastor  and  his  good  wife  led  her  to  the  room 
prepared.  This  destitute  creature  housed  in  the 
old  summer-house  was  practically  the  inauguration 
of  the  now  famous  Kaiserswerth  institution.  In  the 
course  of  the  winter  nine  other  women  voluntarily 
sought  the  refuge,  and  the  work  went  forward  until 
a  new  separate  building  was  erected  near  the  pastor's 
house,  having  its  own  garden  and  field  and  afford- 
ing accommodation  for  twenty  women.  Madame 
Fliedner,  the  founder's  v/ife,  and  Mademoiselle 
Gobel,  a  voluntary  helper,  had  charge  of  the 
penitentiary. 

Some  of  the  women  had  children,  and  Pastor 
Fliedner's  next  .step  was  to  start  an  infant  school 
on  very  much  the  sam.e  lines  as  a  modern  kinder- 


HER  ALMA   MATER  6i 

garten.  Now  it  was  that  the  children's  games  and 
songs  which  it  had  been  his  hobby  to  collect  during 
his  tramps  abroad  when  a  college  student  became 
of  use.  Teachers  were  needed  for  the  increasing 
school,  and  in  course  of  time  a  Normal  school 
for  the  training  of  infant-school  mistresses  was 
started. 

However,  the  idea  which  most  actively  dominated 
the  pastor's  mind  was  the  training  of  women  in 
hospital  v/ork  and  to  tend  the  poor.  In  his 
parish  of  Kaiserswerth  there  was  much  poverty 
and  incompetence  amongst  the  people  and  no 
provision  for  dealing  with  disease.  Three  years 
after  he  had  founded  the  penitentiary  for  discharged 
female  prisoners,  as  already  described,  he  started 
his  more  important  venture  of  founding  a  hospital 
for  the  reception  of  poor  patients  and  for  the 
training  of  nurses  or  deaconesses. 

On  October  13th,  1836,  the  '*  Deaconess  Hospital, 
Kaiserswerth,"  was  opened,  practically  without 
patients  and  without  deaconesses.  For  his  hospital 
the  pastor  had  secured  a  part  of  the  deserted  factory, 
the  stopping  of  which  had  plunged  his  people  into 
destitution  in  the  first  year  of  his  pastorate — a 
singular  example  of  the  realisation  of  poetic  justice. 
He  fitted  the  ''  wards "  with  mended  furniture, 
cracked  earthenware,  and  such  utensils  as  he  could 
beg.     His  stock  of  linen  embraced  only  six  sheets. 


62        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

But  cleanliness  cost  nothing,  and  the  hospital 
certainly  had  that.  On  the  Sunday  morning  after 
the  opening  the  first  patient,  a  poor  suffering 
servant  girl,  knocked  at  the  door  for  admittance. 
Four  other  sick  persons  came  during  the  month, 
and  in  the  course  of  a  year  sixty  patients  had  been 
received  in  the  primitive  hospital,  and  funds  were 
coming  in  for  the  support  of  the  work. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  patients  came  the 
nurses.  First  a  solitary  candidate  presented  herself 
for  training  as  a  deaconess  and  several  probationers 
followed.  In  the  course  of  a  year  seven  nurses 
had  entered  the  institution.  There  was  nothing 
haphazard  about  their  admission,  for  the  pastor,  when 
he  instituted  his  order  of  Protestant  deaconesses, 
made  a  simple  code  of  rules.  No  deaconess  was  to 
be  under  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  although  she 
was  engaged  for  a  term  of  five  years,  she  was  free 
to  leave  at  any  moment.  The  candidates  were 
solemnly  received  into  the  community  and  con- 
secrated to  their  work  by  the  laying  on  of  hands 
by  the  pastor,  who  invoked  a  final  blessing  in  the 
words  :  "  May  God  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  three  Persons  in  one  God,  bless  you  ; 
may  He  stablish  you  in  the  Truth  until  death,  and 
give  you  hereafter  the  Crown  of  Life.     Amen." 

The    dress    of  the    deaconesses    is    very    quaint 
and   simple,   but    not  unbecoming.     It  consists    of 


HER  ALMA   MATER  63 

a  plain  blue  cotton  gown,  a  white  apron,  large 
white  turned-down  collar,  and  a  white  muslin  cap 
surrounding  the  face  in  the  old  style  and  tied 
under  the  chin  with  a  large  bow.  The  young 
girl  probationers  look  very  sweet  and  attractive 
in  the  cap,  which  has  a  tendency  to  heighten 
the  beauty  of  a  fresh  young  face  while  it  seems 
singularly  appropriate  to  the  elderly  women  who 
have  passed  from  active  service  to  the  Home  of 
Rest,  later  provided. 

Unlike  their  Roman  Catholic  sisters,  the  Kaisers- 
werth  deaconesses  were  not  fettered  by  a  vow. 
Their  vocation  was  to  be  the  servants  of  Christ  and 
the  servants  of  the  sick  and  poor.  They  could 
at  any  time  return  to  their  families  if  their  services 
were  needed,  and  were  at  liberty  to  marry,  but 
not  to  remain  in  the  hospital  afterwards,  as  it 
was  considered  that  the  new  ties  would  interfere 
with  entire  devotion  to  their  work. 

Pastor  Fliedner  was  a  man  of  social  instincts 
and  had  himself  married  twice.  His  first  wife 
lived  only  a  short  time,  and  the  story  of  his 
second  wooing  is  quaintly  told  in  his  journal.  He 
went  to  Hamburg  to  ask  Amalia  Sieveking  to 
take  charge  of  a  deaconess  home.  She  was  unable 
to  comply  with  the  request,  but  recommended  in  her 
place  a  young  friend  and  pupil,  Caroline  Bertheau, 
who  had    been  nursing  in  the  Hamburg  Hospital. 


64        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

The  pastor  was  so  pleased  with  the  substitute 
that  he  offered  her  the  choice  of  either  taking 
charge  of  a  deaconess  home  or  becoming  his  wife. 
Caroline  demurely  elected  to  do  both.  They  were 
married  at  once,  and  spent  their  honeymoon  in 
Berlin  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  first  five 
deaconesses  in  the  Charite  Hospital,  returning  in 
due  course  to  Kaiserswerth,  where  the  young  wife 
became  the  Deaconess  Mother  of  the  institution 
and  the  devoted  helpmeet  of  her  husband  in  all 
his  after-work. 

But  to  return  to  the  training  of  the  deaconesses. 
After  the  institution  had  become  established  in  all 
its  branches,  a  candidate  decided  on  entering 
whether  she  wished  to  train  as  a  teacher  or  as  a 
nurse,  and  was  enrolled  in  the  Krankenschwestern 
or  Lehrschwestern  according  to  her  choice.  Each 
probationer  goes  through  a  course  of  practical 
housework.  She  learns  to  cook,  sew,  iron,  and 
scrub  by  taking  a  share  in  the  menial  v/ork  of 
the  hospital,  and  this  fits  her  to  be  of  real  help 
when  she  comes  to  enter  the  homes  of  the  poor. 
The  probationer  also  has  instruction  in  simple 
book-keeping,  letter-writing,  and  reading  aloud. 
After  she  has  gone  through  the  general  course, 
she  goes  into  particular  training  according  to  her 
choice.  If  she  desires  to  become  a  nurse,  she 
enters    the    surgical    and    medical    wards    of    the 


HER  ALMA   MATER  65 

hospital  ;  and  if  a  teacher,  she  trains  in  the  kinder- 
garten and  the  other  schools. 

The  Kaiserswerth  deaconesses  receive  no  salaries, 
the  primary  idea  being  that  they  should  give  them- 
selves to  the  work.  They  have  free  board  and  are 
supplied  each  year  with  two  blue  cotton  gowns 
and  two  aprons,  and  every  five  years  with  a  new 
blue  woollen  gown  and  a  black  alpaca  apron  for 
best  wear.  They  receive  at  intervals  new  outdoor 
dress,  which  consists  of  long  black  cloaks  and 
black  bonnets  which  fit  closely  over  the  white  cap. 
If  a  deaconess  has  private  property,  she  retains 
the  full  control  of  it,  and  on  her  death  it  reverts 
to  her  nearest  of  kin  unless  she  has  otherwise 
disposed  of  it  by  will.  Each  deaconess  is  allowed 
a   small  sum  for  pocket  money. 

During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  founding  of 
Kaiserswerth  Pastor  Fliedner  spread  his  system  of 
deaconesses  until  he  had  established  sixty  nurses 
in  twenty-five  different  centres,  and  calls  were 
coming  from  all  sides.  In  1849  he  resigned  his 
pastorate  in  order  to  journey  about  establishing 
branch  houses  in  different  parts  of  the  world. 
His  first  long  journey  was  to  the  United  States, 
to  conduct  deaconesses  to  Dr.  Passavant^s  German 
parish  at  Pittsburg  ;  and  the  second  was  to  Jerusalem, 
where  he  founded  a  "mother  house"  with  four 
deaconesses    on    Mount    Zion    in    a  building  given 

5 


66        LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

by  the  King  of  Prussia.  This  branch  undertakes 
to  nurse  all  sick  persons  irrespective  of  creed,  and 
forms  a  training  school  for  nurses  in  the  East. 

From  Jerusalem  he  proceeded  to  Constantinople, 
established  a  branch  there,  and  then  proceeded  to 
Alexandria,  Beyrout,  Smyrna,  Bucharest,  and  other 
places.  He  'had  already  started  a  deaconess  home 
in  London.  The  institutions  spread  rapidly  through 
Germany,  and  to-day  there  is  scarcely  a  town  of  any 
size  in  the  Fatherland  which  has  not  its  deaconess 
home  which  sends  nurses  to  the  poor  without  charge 
and  supplies  middle-class  families  at  moderate  fees. 
The  last  years  of  the  pastor*s  life  were  passed  in 
bodily  suffering,  but  he  still  kept  his  hand  on  the 
helm.  His  last  work  was  to  found  at  Kaiserswerth 
a  Home  of  Rest  for  retired  deaconesses.  The  good 
man  was  much  cheered  not  only  by  the  marvellous 
extension  of  his  work — he  left  behind  him  a  hundred 
houses  attended  by  four  hundred  and  thirty  deacon- 
esses— but  at  the  fruit  which  seeds  of  his  sowing 
had  produced  in  the  heart  of  the  English  lady 
who  became  the  heroine  of  the  Crimean  War.  It 
was  with  peculiar  interest  that  he  followed  the 
work  of  Florence  Nightingale  in  that  campaign, 
for  her  deeds  shed  a  reflected  lustre  on  her  Alma 
Mater. 

On  October  4th,  1864,  Pastor  Fhedner,  to  use 
Miss  Nightingale's  words,    '■'  passed  to  his  glorious 


HER  ALMA   MATER  67 

rest."  Almost  his  last  words  were  :  "  As  I  look 
back  upon  my  life,  I  appreciate  how  full  it  has  been 
of  blessings  ;  every  heart-beat  should  have  been 
gratitude  and  every  breath  praise." 

Commenting  upon  his  work,  Miss  Nightingale 
made  this  characteristic  summary :  "Pastor  Fliedner 
began  his  work  with  two  beds  under  a  roof,  not  with 
a  castle  in  the  air,  and  Kaiserswerth  is  now  diffusing 
its  blessings  and  its  deaconesses  over  almost  every 
Protestant  land." 


CHAPTER    VII 

ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH :  A  PLEA  FOR 
DEA  CONESSES 

An  Interesting  Letter— Description  of  Miss  Nightingale  when  she 
entered  Kaiserswerth — Testimonies  to  her  Popularity— Im- 
pressive Farewell  to  Pastor  Fliedner. 

The  travelled  mind  is  the  catholic  mind  educated  from  exclusiveness 
and  egotism. — A.  Bronson  Alcott. 

WHEN  Florence  Nightingale  entered  the 
Deaconess  Hospital  at  Kaiserswerth,  the 
institution,  if  we  count  the  first  primitive  penitentiary, 
had  been  in  existence  sixteen  years.  It  already 
consisted  of  a  hospital  and  training  home  for 
deaconesses,  a  seminary  for  infant-school  teachers, 
a  kindergarten,  an  orphan  asylum,  and  a  penitentiary, 
but  was  small  compared  with  the  extensive  settle- 
ment of  to-day.  It  was  managed  on  very  simple 
and  primitive  lines,  and  the  nurses  came  almost 
entirely  from  the  peasant  class.  The  fashion  of 
"lady"  nurses  was  practically  unknown.  Deaconess 
Reichardt,  the  first  sister  enrolled  in  the  institution, 

68 


ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH  69 

was  still    there  at  the  time   of  Miss    Nightingale's 
sojourn. 

An  interesting  bit  of  autobiography  regarding  her 
Kaiserswerth  days  is  given  by  Miss  Nightingale 
in  a  letter  preserved  by  the  authorities  of  the 
British  Museum.  The  letter  was  sent  in  reply 
to  their  request  for  a  copy  of  the  little  history  of 
Kaiserswerth  which  Miss  Nightingale  published 
after  her  return  from  the  institution,  and  was 
hastily  written  in  pencil.  It  is  dated  September  24th, 
1897,  from  her  house  10,  South  Street,  Park  Lane, 
and  runs  as  follows  : — 

"  Messrs.  Dubau, — 

"  A  gentleman  called  here  yesterday  from  you, 
asking  for  a  copy  of  my  Kaiserswerth  for,  I 
believe,  the  British  Museum. 

"  Since  yesterday,  a  search  has  been  instituted — 
but  only  two  copies  have  been  found,  and  one 
of  those  is  torn  and  dirty.  I  send  you  the  least 
bad-looking.  You  will  see  the  date  is  1851,  and 
after  the  copies  then  printed  were  given  away, 
I  don't  think  I  have  ever  thought   of  it. 

"  I  was  twice  in  training  there  myself.  Of  course, 
since  then  hospital  and  district  nursing  have  made 
great  strides.  Indeed,  district  nursing  has  been 
invented. 

"  But    never  have    I    met  with    a    higher    lov^e, 


70        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

a     purer    devotion    than    there.       There    was    no 
neglect. 

*'  It  was  the  more  remarkable  because  many  of 
the  deaconesses  had  been  only  peasants — (none 
were  gentlewomen   when   I  was  there). 

"The  food  was  poor — no  coffee  but  bean  coffee 
— no  luxury  but  cleanliness. 

''Florence  Nightingale." 

One  can  imagine  the  flutter  of  excitement 
amongst  the  good  simple  deaconesses  as  they 
flitted  about  in  their  blue  cotton  gowns,  white 
aprons^  and  prim  musHn  caps  when  it-  was  known 
that  an  English  lady  of  wealth  and  position  had 
come  to  study  amongst  them.  That  such  a  woman 
should  voluntarily  undertake  the  duties  of  a  hospital 
nurse,  tending  the  sick  poor  with  her  own  delicate 
hands,  was  at  that  time  almost  unprecedented.  But 
the  "  Fraulein  Nightingale  "  was  quickly  at  home 
amongst  her  fellow-nurses  and  eager  to  learn  all 
that  the  more  experienced  could  teach  her.  She 
took  both  day  and  night  nursing  and  entered  into 
all  branches  of  work.  Garbed  in  the  simple  nurse's 
dress  she  moved  through  the  wards  of  the  hospital 
carrying  the  charm  of  her  presence  from  bed  to  bed, 
as  she  was  later  to  do  at  Scutari.  Was  there  a  difficult 
case  to  attend  or  an  operation  to  be  performed,  the 
English  Fraulein  was  sure  to  be  on  the  scene. 


ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH  7^ 

At   this    period    Miss    Nightingale   was    in    the 
strength  and  beauty  of  her  early  womanhood.     She 
was  tall,    slight,    and  graceful,    with    abundance    of 
brown  hair  neatly  arranged  on  either  side  her  high 
broad  forehead,  and  had  penetrating  grey-blue  eyes 
and  a  mouth  which  though  firm  indicated  a  sense 
of  humour.    The  deaconesses,  with  whom  she  could 
talk   in  their  own  language,  found  her  a  diverting 
companion,  for  she  had  a  sharp  incisive  wit,  a  certain 
homely  shrewdness  of  expression,  and  a  knowledge 
acquired  not  only   from   a  superior   education,   but 
from  a  good  experience  of  foreign    travel.     Above 
everything  else  she  was  distinguished  by  the  power 
of  adapting  herself  to  circumstances,  and  she  settled 
down  to  the  humble  fare  and  simple  routine  of  life 
at  Kaiserswerth   as  easily  as  though   she  had  never 
known  the  refined  luxuries  of  her   father's  house. 
It  is  small  wonder  that  the  sweet  old  faces  of  the 
retired  deaconesses,  living  out  the  last  spell  of  life  in 
the  Kaiserswerth  Home  of  Rest,  light  up  with  smiles 
to-day  at  the  mention  of  the  "Fraulein  Nightingale." 
Some    can     recall    her     gracious    kindly    presence 
amongst  them,  and    all  feel  a  community  of  satis- 
faction that  her  honoured  name  is  enrolled  among 
the  sisterhood. 

Sister  Agnes  Jones,  the  devoted  and  famous  nurse 
of  Liverpool,  was  at  Kaiserswerth  in  i860,  and 
records    the    impression    which    Miss    Nightingale's 


72        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

personality  had  left  on  the  deaconesses.  She  wrote 
in  a  letter  to  a  friend  :  "  Their  love  for  Miss 
Nightingale  is  so  great  ;  she  was  only  a  few  months 
there,  but  they  so  long  to  see  her  again.  I  was 
asking  much  about  her  ;  such  a  loving  and  lovely 
womanly  character  hers  must  be,  and  so  religious. 
Sister  S.  told  me  many  of  the  sick  remembered 
much  of  her  teaching,  and  some  died  happily, 
blessing  her  for  having  led  them  to  Jesus." 

Although  training  in  hospital  work  was  Miss 
Nightingale's  primary  object  in  going  to  Kaisers- 
werth,  she  was  deeply  interested  in  all  Pastor 
Fliedner's  schemes  for  helping  the  poor  in  his 
parish,  and  did  a  good  deal  of  what  in  these  days 
would  be  termed  "  district  visiting,"  along  with 
Frau  Fliedner.  She  also  took  a  keen  interest  in 
the  school  and  the  teachers'  seminary,  and  formed 
a  warm  friendship  with  Henrietta  Frickenhaus,  the 
first  schoolmistress  at  Kaiserswerth,  who  was  still 
in  charge  of  the  seminary,  and  had  at  that  time 
trained  four  hundred  candidates. 

Pastor  FHedner  had  given  up  parish  work  to 
travel  abroad  and  found  deaconess  institutions  in 
various  towns  at  the  time  when  Miss  Nightingale 
first  came  to  Kaiserswerth,  but  they  occasionally  met, 
and  during  the  latter  part  of  her  residence  he  was 
at  home  and  took,  as  may  be  readily  imagined,  a 
deep  interest  in  the  training  of  so  brilliant  and  dis- 


ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH  73 

tlnguished  a  pupil.  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  visited 
Kaiserswerth  during  Miss  Nightingale's  probation, 
and  had  therefore  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
efficient  training  of  the  lady  who  was  later  to  be 
his  honoured  coadjutor  in  hospital  and  nursing 
reforms. 

A  very  impressive  scene  took  place  when 
Florence  Nightingale  left  Kaiserswerth.  The 
present  head  of  the  institution,  Pastor  Disselhoff, 
tells  me  that  his  mother,  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Pastor  Fliedner,  vividly  recalls  the  scene  to-day. 
After  bidding  good-bye  to  the  deaconesses,  Miss 
Nightingale  bent  her  head  to  the  pastor  and  asked 
for  his  blessing.  With  hands  resting  on  her  head, 
and  face  upturned  to  heaven,  he  prayed  that  her 
sojourn  at  Kaiserswerth  might  bear  precious  fruit 
and  her  great  powers  be  dedicated  to  the  service  of 
humanity.  Then,  repeating  his  usual  formula— 
*'  May  God  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  three  Persons  in  one  God,  bless  you  ;  may 
He  stablish  you  in  the  Truth  until  death,  and  give 
you  hereafter  the  Crown  of  Life.  Amen  " — he  sent 
her  forth  dedicated  to  the  service  of  the  sick  and 
suffering.  Little  did  he  think  what  the  magnitude 
of  that  service  was  to  be.  Teacher  and  pupil  were 
not  destined  to  meet  again,  but  the  good  pastor 
lived  to  hear  the  name  of  Florence  Nightingale 
resound  through  the  world. 


74        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

After  Miss  Nightingale's  return  home  from  her 
second  sojourn  at  Kaiserswerth,  she  published  in 
1 851  a  booklet  on  the  institution,  and  in  the  intro- 
duction gives  some  excellent  advice  to  the  girls  of 
the  time.  Her  remarks  may  seem  a  little  out 
of  date  to-day,  but  are  interesting  as  showing  the 
desire  for  useful  work  which  was  beginning  to 
actuate  women  of  the  leisured  classes  and  which 
needed  to  be  directed  into  fitting  channels.  There 
was  then  the  great  cry  of  the  untrained.  Women 
were  longing  for  occupation,  but  few  had  received 
definite  courses  of  training. 

Miss  Nightingale  was  at  this  period  a  pioneer  of 
her  sex  and  a  decidedly  "  advanced  "  woman,  but 
the  desire  for  freedom  of  action  was  tempered  by  a 
naturally  well-balanced  nature.  She  put  forward 
the  plea  on  women's  behalf  that  they  should  be 
encouraged  to  seek  occupation  and  properly  trained 
for  their  work.  In  Kaiserswerth  she  deals  more 
particularly  with  the  vocation  of  a  nurse  or  deaconess, 
but  as  a  prelude  to  the  little  work  she  refers  to  the 
position  of  women  in  her  own  century.  There  is  "  an 
old  legend,"  she  writes,  "  that  the  nineteenth  century 
is  to  be  the  century  of  women,"  but  she  thinks  that 
up  to  the  present  (1851)  it  has  not  been  theirs.  She 
magnanimously  exempts  man  from  blame.  The 
fault  has  not  been  his,  for  **  in  no  country  has 
woman  been  given   such    freedom    to  cultivate  her 


ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH  75 

powers "  as  in  England.  "  She  [woman]  is  no 
longer  called  pedantic  if  her  powers  appear  in  con- 
versation. The  authoress  is  courted  not  shunned.'* 
Women,  she  thinks,  have  made  extraordinary  in- 
tellectual development,  but  as  human  beings  cannot 
move  two  feet  at  once,  except  they  jump,  so 
while  the  intellectual  foot  of  woman  has  made  a 
step  in  advance,  the  practical  foot  has  remained 
behind.  ^'  Woman,"  says  Miss  Nightingale,  "  stands 
askew.  Her  education  for  action  has  not  kept  pace 
with  her  education  for  acquirement.  The  woman 
of  the  eighteenth  century  was  perhaps  happier,  when 
practice  and  theory  were  on  a  par,  than  her  more 
cultivated  sister  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
latter  wishes,  but  does  not  know  how  to  do  many 
things  1  The  former,  what  she  wished  at  least  that 
she  could  do." 

It  appears  that  when  Miss  Nightingale  was  a 
young  woman,  the  fashion  for  extolling  the  single 
girl  as  against  her  sister  who  had  entered  the  bonds 
of  matrimony  was  coming  into  vogue,  but  on  this 
point  our  heroine  was  racily  sincere.  "It  has  be- 
come of  late  the  fashion,"  she  says,  "  to  cry  up  '  old 
maids,'  to  inveigh  against  regarding  marriage  as  the 
vocation  of  all  women,  to  declare  that  a  single  life  is 
as  happy  as  a  married  one,  if  people  would  but  think 
so.  So  is  the  air  as  good  an  element  for  fish  as  the 
water,    if  they  did  but  know    how    to  live   in  it. 


76        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Show  us  how  to  be  single  and  we  will  agree.  But 
hitherto  we  have  not  found  that  young  English- 
women have  been  convinced.  And  we  must  confess 
that,  in  the  -present  state  of  things^  their  horror  of 
being  *  old  maids*  seems  justified  .  .  ,  a  Hfe  with- 
out love,  and  an  activity  without  an  aim,  is  horrible 
in  idea  and  wearisome  in  reality." 

Miss  Nightingale  does  not  touch  on  the  point 
that  the  disparity  between  the  numbers  of  the  sexes 
makes  singleness  not  a  choice  but  a  necessity  to  many 
women,  and  that  in  the  interests  of  those  who 
must  remain  unwed,  training  for  a  definite  calHng 
in  life  should  be  given  to  girls  as  v/ell  as  to  boys. 

She  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  longing  of  women 
for  work  and  the  ennui  which  results  from  the  lack 
of  it,  and  draws  the  picture  of  five  or  six  daughters 
living  in  well-to-do  houses  with  no  other  occupation 
than  taking  a  class  in  a  Sunday-school  and  of 
the  middle-class  girls  who  become  burdensome  to 
fathers  and  brothers. 

She  expends  some  characteristic  witticisms  on  the 
young  ladies  who  try  to  drive  away  ennui  by  a  little 
parish  visiting,  and  because  of  their  want  of  know- 
ledge only  succeed  in  demoralising  the  poor.  In 
evidence  of  this,  Miss  Nightingale  tells  the  story 
that  one  day  on  entering  a  cottage  which  was  usually 
neat  and  tidy  she  found  everything  upside  down. 

''  La  !  now  !  why,  miss,"  said  the  cottage  woman 


ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH  77 

at  her  visitor's  look  of  astonishment,  *'  when  the 
district-visiting  ladies  comes,  if  we  didn't  put 
everything  topsy-turvy  they  would  not  give  us 
anything." 

"To  be  able  to  visit  well,''  says  Miss  Nightingale, 
commenting  upon  the  foregoing  incident,  "  is  one  of 
the  rarest  accomplishments.  But  when  attained, 
what  a  blessing  to  both  visitors  and  visited  !  " 

These  remarks  in  regard  to  the  work  of 
women  were  by  way  of  preliminary  to  introducing 
the  subject  of  deaconesses.  Miss  Nightingale  had 
returned  from  Kaiserswerth  full  of  enthusiasm  for 
the  vocation  of  trained  nurse  and  visitor  to  the 
poor,  and  was  endeavouring  to  introduce  the  then 
highly  novel  subject  to  her  young  countrywomen 
as  a  way  of  getting  rid  of  listlessness  and  ennui. 
That  she  felt  the  ground  to  be  dangerous  is  shown 
by  the  detailed  account  of  the  connection  of  the 
office  of  a  deaconess  with  the  early  Christian  Church, 
which  she  deemed  it  necessary  to  give  in  order  to 
allay  the  Protestant  fear  that  a  deaconess  was  a 
nun  in  disguise. 

In  these  days,  when  women  are  actively  employed 
in  Church  work  and  philanthropy,  and  when  their 
assistance  is  welcomed  by  the  clergy  in  parishes 
all  over  the  land,  it  seems  strange  to  find  how 
cautiously  Miss  Nightingale  recommended  the  office 
of  deaconess.     She  labours  through  scholastic  argu- 


78        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

ments  and  cites  the  Fathers.  St.  Chrysostom 
speaks  of  forty  deaconesses  at  work  in  Con- 
stantinople in  the  fourth  century.  Holy  women 
of  the  order  worked  amongst  the  Waldensian, 
Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brotherhoods.  Luther 
complained  of  the  lack  of  deaconesses  in  his  neigh- 
bourhood, adding,  "  Women  have  especial  graces  to 
alleviate  woe,  and  the  words  of  womien  move  the 
human  being  more  than  those  of  men."  Under 
Queen  Elizabeth,  deaconesses  were  instituted  into  the 
Protestant  Church  during  public  service.  The  Pilgrim 
Fathers  when  first  driven  to  Amsterdam  and  Leyden 
carried  their  deaconesses  with  them,  and  Miss 
Nightingale  cites  the  improving  example  of  the 
Amsterdam  deaconess  who  sat  in  her  place  at 
church  with  a  little  birchen  rod  in  her  hand  to 
correct  the  children,  and  relates  how  she  called 
upon  the  young  maidens  for  their  services,  when 
they  were  sick,  and  she  was  '*  obeyed  like  a  mother 
in  Israel." 

She  considers  it  clearly  proved  that  before  the 
establishment  of  the  order  of  sisters  of  mercy  by 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  in  1633,  the  office  of  deaconess 
had  been  recognised  by  all  divisions  of  Christians, 
and  was  therefore  not  borrowed  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  The  reason  why  such  sisterhoods 
had  not  flourished  among  Protestants  was  owing 
to    the    lack    of    preparatory    schools    and    training 


ENTERS  KAISERSWERTH  79 

homes.  This  want  had  been  supplied  at  the 
Kaiserswerth  institution,  and  she  proceeds  to  give  a 
history  of  its  foundation  and  growth.  There  she 
had  found  her  ideal,  and  for  the  next  few  years 
her  life  was  devoted  to  philanthropic  and  religious 
work.  Military  nursing  had  not  as  yet  dawned 
upon  her  horizon. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

A  PERIOD  OF  WAITING 

Visits  the  Sisters  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  in  Paris — Illness — 
Resumes  Old  Life  at  Lea  Hurst  and  Embley — Interest  in  John 
Smedley's  System  of  Hydropathy — Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney 
Herbert's  Philanthropies — Work  at  Harley  Street  Home  for 
Sick  Governesses — Illness  and  Return  Home. 

They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  wait. — Milton. 

THREE  years  had  yet  to  transpire  before 
Florence  Nightingale  was  called  to  her  great 
life  work.  After  leaving  Kaiserswerth,  she  stayed 
for  a  time  on  her  way  home  with  the  Sisters  of  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul  in  Paris.  She  was  without  religious 
bigotry  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  and  sincerely 
admired  the  devoted  and  unselfish  work  of  this 
Roman  Catholic  sisterhood.  They  were  indeed  sisters 
of  mercy,  and  the  hospitals  and  schools  of  their 
community  had  obtained  world-wide  renown.  Their 
institutions  had  the  advantage  over  Kaiserswerth, 
at  that  period,  of  being  in  long-established  working 
order.  In  Paris,  too,  Miss  Nightingale  found 
opportunity   for  studying   surgery   in  the  hospitals. 

80 


SIR    WILLIAM    HOWARD    RUSSELL. 
{Photo  by  Elliott  S-'  Fry.) 


[To  face  p.  So. 


A  PERIOD   OF   WAITING  8i 

The  skill  of  the  Paris  surgeons  stood  remarkably 
high,  and  she  could  scarcely  have  had  a  better 
ground  for  observation  than  the  French  capital. 
With  her  good  friends  the  sisters,  too,  Miss 
Nightingale  visited  the  homes  of  the  poor  and 
made  a  minute  inspection  of  their  methods  of 
organised  charity. 

While  pursuing  this  interesting  work.  Miss 
Nightingale  was  taken  ill.  She  had  now  a  personal 
experience  of  the  skill  and  tender  care  of  the  sisters, 
who  nursed  her  back  to  convalesence. 

As  soon  as  she  was  able  to  travel,  she  returned  to 
her  family  and  completed  her  restoration  to  health 
in  the  beautiful  surroundings  of  her  well-loved 
homes  of  Embley  Park  and  Lea  Hurst.  There  she 
spent  the  ensuing  months  in  her  old  work  of  quiet 
benevolence  amongst  the  poor  and  infirm  in  the 
parishes,  where  her  name  was  even  then  a  house- 
hold word.  Added  to  her  kindness  of  heart,  which 
the  people  had  long  known,  "  Miss  Florence  "  had 
now  returned  from  '*  furren  parts  "  with  a  knowledge 
of  sick  nursing  which  astounded  the  rustic  mind. 
It  was  rumoured  that  she  could  set  a  broken  leg 
better  than  the  doctor,  and  had  remedies  for 
**  rheumatiz "  and  lumbago  which  made  old  men 
feel  young  again,  and  as  for  her  lotions  for  the  eyes, 
"Why,  they  was  enough  to  ruin  the  spectacle  folk." 

At  this  period  the   immediate  vicinity  of   Miss 

6 


82        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Nightingale's  Derbyshire  home  was  the  scene  of 
the  labours  of  **  Dr."  John  Smedley,  the  Father  of 
Hydropathy  and  the  founder  of  the  now  famous 
**  Smedley's  Hydropathic  "  at  Matlock  Bank.  Al- 
though Miss  Nightingale  did  not,  I  believe,  specially 
ally  herself  with  hydropathy,  she  has  always  been 
an  advocate  for  the  simple  rules  of  health  and  diet 
as  against  the  drug  treatment.  She  could  not  fail 
to  have  been  deeply  interested  in  the  experiments 
which  good  John  Smedley  and  his  mother  were 
conducting  practically  at  her  own  door,  and  they 
form  a  part  of  the  environment  which  was  shaping 
her  mind  at  this  period. 

The  old  stone  house  in  which  John  Smedley  lived 
while  he  was  experimenting  still  stands  near  the 
bottom  of  the  steep  road  leading  to  Lea  Hurst. 
It  has  been  divided  into  three  small  dwellings,  but 
the  outside  railings  over  which  Mrs.  Smedley  used 
to  hand  her  son's  simple  remedies  to  the  villagers, 
and  to  the  employees  at  Smedley's  Mills,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  road,  are  still  pointed  out  by 
old  inhabitants.  The  hamlet  was  particularly  good 
for  pioneer  work  of  this  kind,  because  of  the 
hundreds  of  workers,  chiefly  v/omen  and  girls,  from 
the  surrounding  countryside  who  obtained  employ- 
ment at  Lea  Mills.  The  Derbyshire  quarries  and 
smelting  works  in  the  vicinity  also  yielded  further 
patients  for    treatment.       In   course   of  time    John 


A  PERIOD   OF  WAITING  83 

Smedley  started  two  free  hospitals  near  his  house, 
one  for  men  and  one  for  women,  and  the  patients 
were  subjected  to  the  hydropathic  regimen  with  such 
beneficial  results  that  he  started  the  hydropathic 
establishment  known  by  his  name  at  Matlock. 

When  at  Embley,  Miss  Nightingale  was  much 
interested  in  the  benevolent  schemes  of  Mr. 
Sidney  Herbert,  afterwards  Lord  Herbert  of  Lea, 
and  his  accomplished  and  beautiful  wife,  who 
were  friends  and  neighbours.  The  Herberts* 
residence,  Wilton  House,  was  a  few  miles  fi'om 
Embley  on  the  Wiltshire  border,  and  at  this 
period  they  were  engaged  in  the  founding  of  a 
children's  hospital,  schools,  and  other  philanthropic 
ventures,  and  were  actively  interested  in  schemes 
for  the  emigration  of  poor  women.  We  shall, 
however,  deal  later  with  the  very  congenial  friend- 
ship existing  between  Miss  Nightingale  and  Lord 
and  Lady  Herbert  of  Lea. 

As  soon  as  Miss  Nightingale  had  recovered  her 
health  she  left  the  quiet  surroundings  of  her  country 
homes  for  a  Hfe  of  philanthropic  activity  in  London. 
She  was  greatly  interested  in  the  Ragged  School 
work  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  and  devoted  the 
proceeds  of  her  recently  published  booklet  on 
Kaiserswerth,  which  had  been  printed  by  the  in- 
mates of  the  London  Ragged  Colonial  Training 
School,  to  charitable  objects. 


84         LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

In  choosing  a  line  of  benevolent  activity.  Miss 
Nightingale  was  at  this  period  actuated  by  a  desire 
to  help  poor  ladies,  so  many  of  whom  were  suffering 
silently  and  unheeded,  and  largely  through  their 
lack  of  proper  training  for  remunerative  callings. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  her  common- 
sense  plea  that  women  should  receive  training  to 
fit  them  for  work,  in  her  advocacy  of  a  revival 
of  the  order  of  deaconesses.  But  while  she  sought 
to  influence  the  girls  of  the  future,  Miss  Nightingale 
made  it  a  present  duty  to  soothe  and  brighten  the 
lives  of  poor  ladies  who  had  fallen  helpless  in  the 
race  of  life.  With  this  end  in  view  she  took  in 
charge  the  Harley  Street  Home  for  Sick  Governesses, 
which  was  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  condition. 

Much  has  been  written  on  the  underpaid  and 
badly  treated  private  governess  in  days  gone  by. 
Her  woes,  and  sometimes  her  machinations,  were 
the  stock-in-trade  of  romancers.  When  a  pretty 
young  creature  in  cheap  mourning  appeared  at  the 
Grange  as  governess  to  the  younger  children,  you 
might  predict  a  proud,  harsh  mistress,  troublesome 
and  insulting  pupils,  and  a  broken  heart  by  reason 
of  the  squire's  son,  almost  to  a  certainty.  But  the 
novelist  rarely  followed  the  governess  beyond  the 
interesting  age  of  youth  and  beauty  ;  if  he  had, 
there  would  have  been  sad  tales  to  tell  of  friendless 
old  age,  penury,  and  want.    The  Harley  Street  Home 


A   PERIOD    OF  WAITING  85 

had  been  founded  to  help  such,  more  particularly 
those  who  were  in  bad  health.  In  this  institution 
Miss  Nightingale  found  a  work  which  brought  into 
active  use  the  knowledge  of  sick  nursing  which 
she  had  been  acquiring,  gave  a  vent  for  her 
womanly  benevolence,  afforded  a  field  for  the 
exercise  of  her  organising  abilities,  and  proved  a 
valuable  preparation  for  what  lay  in  the  future. 

The  Home  had  been  languishing  through  mis- 
management and  lack  of  funds,  and  its  new  super- 
intendent set  to  work  with  characteristic  method. 
She  got  donations  from  her  friends,  inspired  old 
subscribers  with  a  new  confidence,  and  managed  to 
get  the  institution  on  its  feet  again,  but  not  without 
serious  strain  of  overwork. 

A  lady  who  visited  her  at  this  time  speaks  of  the 
untiring  labour  which  Miss  Nightingale  gave  to 
the  institution.  "  She  was  to  be  found,'*  she 
writes,  "in  the  midst  of  the  various  duties  of  a 
hospital — for  the  Home  was  largely  a  sanatorium 
— organising  the  nurses,  attending  to  the  corre- 
spondence, prescriptions,  and  accounts  ;  in  short, 
performing  all  the  duties  of  a  hard-working  matron 
as  well  as  largely  financing  the  institution." 

Miss  Nightingale  shut  herself  off  entirely  from 
outside  society  and  only  occasionally  received  her 
most  intimate  friends.  Her  assiduity  bore  fruit 
in  the  improved  state  of  the  Home,  not  only  on  its 


86         LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

financial  side,  but  in  the  air  of  homely  and  refined 
comfort  which  she  brought  to  it.  The  task  of 
dealing  with  sick  and  querulous  women,  embittered 
and  rendered  sensitive  and  exacting  by  the  un- 
fortunate circumstances  of  their  lives,  was  not 
an  easy  one,  but  Miss  Nightingale  had  a  calm 
and  cheerful  spirit  which  could  bear  with  the 
infirmities  of  the  weak.  And  so  she  laboured  on 
in  the  dull  house  in  Harley  Street  summer  and 
winter,  bringing  order  and  comfort  out  of  a  wretched 
chaos  and  proving  a  real  friend  and  helper  to 
the  sick  and  sorrow-laden  women.  At  length  the 
strain  proved  too  much  for  her  delicate  body,  and 
she  was  compelled  most  reluctantly  to  resign  her 
task. 

Again  she  returned  to  Embley  Park  and  Lea 
Hurst  to  recruit  her  health.  When  a  few  months 
later  the  supreme  call  of  her  life  came  and  she 
was  summoned  to  the  work  for  which  a  special 
Providence  seemed  to  have  been  preparing  her  from 
childhood,  she  was  found  ready. 


CHAPTER    IX 

SIDNEY,    LORD    HERBERT   OF  LEA. 

Gladstone  on  Lord  Herbert— Early  Life  of  Lord  Herbert — His 
Mother — College  Career — Enters  Public  Life — As  Secretary  for 
War — Benevolent  Work  at  Salisbury — Lady  Herbert — Friend- 
ship with  Florence  Nightingale — Again  Secretary  for  War. 

Formed  on  the  good  old  plan, 
A  true  and  brave  and  downright  honest  man. 

Whittier. 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee, 
None  named   thee  but  to  praise. 

Halleck, 

"  T  WISH,"  wrote  Gladstone  to  Richard  Monckton- 
X  Milnes  (afterwards  Lord  Houghton)  in  October, 
1855,  "that  some  one  of  the  thousand  who  in 
prose  justly  celebrate  Miss  Nightingale  would  say 
a  single  word  for  the  man  of  *  routine '  who  devised 
and  projected  her  going — Sidney  Herbert." 

Acting  on  such  distinguished  advice  I  propose 
to  attempt  a  slight  account  of  the  career  and  person- 
ality of  this  singularly  attractive  man,  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  War  Office  when  Florence 
Nightingale  and  her  staff  of  nurses  were    sent    to 

87 


88         LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  aid  of  the  soldiers  wounded  in  the  Crimea. 
No  Life  of  Lord  Herbert  of  Lea  has  at  the  time 
of  writing  been  published,  although  one  is,  I 
understand,  in  course  of  preparation.  The  name 
of  Sidney  Herbert  is  distinguished  as  that  of  the 
War  Minister  who,  in  defiance  of  official  tradition, 
enlisted  the  devotion  and  organising  power  of 
women  on  behalf  of  our  soldiery  perishing  in  the 
pestilential  hospitals  of  the  East. 

Sidney  Herbert  was  born  at  Richmond  in  Surrey 
on  September  i6,  1 8 lo,  and  was  the  second  son  of 
George  Augustus,  eleventh  Earl  of  Pembroke,  by 
his  second  wife.  Countess  Catherine,  only  daughter 
of  Count  WoronzofF,  Russian  Ambassador  to  the 
British  Court.  His  maternal  uncle,  Prince  Michael 
WoronzofF,  was  a  companion  m  arms  of  Wellington, 
and  the  founder  of  the  prosperous  era  in  the 
Crimea.  Sidney  Herbert's  mother,  though  of 
Russian  birth,  was  chiefly  brought  up  and  educated 
in  this  country,  and  owing  to  her  father's  official 
position,  moved  as  a  girl  in  the  atmosphere  of  the 
Court.  He  owed  much  to  her  example  and  training. 
She  is  described  as  having  been  a  woman  of  quick 
intelligence  and  sound  judgment,  of  large  generosity 
and  noble  bearing.  Her  husband,  Lord  Pembroke, 
died  when  their  son  Sidney  was  about  seventeen, 
and  her  influence  moulded  his  early  manhood. 

He  was  educated  at  Harrow  under  Dr.  Butler,  and 


SIDNEY,   LORD  HERBERT  OF  LEA  89 

matriculated  at  Oriel  College,  Oxford,  in  1828,  where 
he  was  counted  an  elegant  scholar  and  noted  as  a 
speaker  at  the  Union  Debating  Society,  when  he 
matched  his  strength  beside  Gladstone,  Roundell 
Palmer,  and  other  distinguished  young  orators.  Upon 
his  entrance  into  pubHc  life,  as  M.P.  for  South  Wilt- 
shire in  the  first  Reformed  Parliament  of  1832,  Sidney 
Herbert  was  considered  a  graceful  and  accomplished 
young  Tory. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  on  taking  office  in  1834  offered 
Sidney  Herbert  a  post  in  the  Government,  and  it 
was  characteristic  of  him  that  he  refused  the  Lord- 
ship of  the  Treasury  because  the  duties  were  slight, 
and  accepted  the  laborious  post  of  Secretary  to  the 
Board  of  Control,  which  he  held  during  Peel's 
Administration.  He  returned  to  office  with  his  old 
leader  in  1841  as  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty. 
While  holding  that  position  Sidney  Herbert  set 
to  work  to  reform  the  Naval  School  at  Greenwich, 
which  then  contained  some  eight  hundred  boys  and 
was  the  nursing-ground  for  the  navy.  While  thus 
engaged  he  exhibited  that  administrative  faculty 
which  was  later  so  conspicuously  shown  in  his  efforts 
on  behalf  of  the  sister  service. 

In  1845  he  was  transferred  to  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  War,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet.  He 
gave  special  attention  to  the  regimental  schools 
and    introduced    very    necessary    reforms    in    their 


90        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

management,  and  also  instituted  an  inquiry  into 
the  state  of  the  Royal  Military  Asylum  at  Chelsea. 
On  the  resignation  of  Sir  Robert  Peel's  Ministry, 
Sidney  Herbert  left  office,  and  his  work  of  military 
reform  remained  in  abeyance. 

He  remained  out  of  office  for  six  years,  and 
during  that  period  devoted  himself  largely  to  private 
philanthropy  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home,  Wilton 
House,  near  Salisbury.  He  had  married  in  1846 
Ehzabeth,  the  daughter  of  General  Aske  A'Court 
and  the  niece  of  Lord  Heytesbury,  a  young  lady 
of  singular  beauty  and  charm^  who  entered  most 
sympathetically  into  his  many  philanthropic  enter- 
prises, and  herself  instituted  several  benevolent 
schemes.  She  became  the  authoress  of  several  books 
dealing  with  biography  and  travel. 

Florence  Nightingale  was  a  frequent  visitor  at 
Wilton  House  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Herbert 
were  amongst  her  dearest  and  most  sympathetic 
friends.  She  took  a  great  interest  in  the  home 
for  scrofulous  children  which  they  had  founded  and 
maintained  at  Mudiford  in  Hampshire,  and  was  able 
to  give  much  practical  help  in  its  management. 
Having  heard  from  Miss  Nightingale  of  a  particular 
bath  which  she  had  seen  employed  with  good  effect 
at  Kaiserswerth,  Mr.  Herbert  procured  the  in- 
gredients from  that  distant  institution  for  use  in 
the  Mudiford  home.     One  can  readily  imagine  how 


SIDNEY,   LORD  HERBERT  OF  LEA  91 

useful  her  technical  knowledge  was  to  her  friends 
in  their  various  undertakings,  and  how  congenial 
interests  drew  them  more  and  more  together. 

Humanity  in  every  form  appealed  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Sidney  Herbert.  They  erected  at  Wilton  a  model 
lodging-house  for  agricultural  labourers,  and  formu- 
lated schemes  for  the  emigration  of  poor  women. 
So  actively  interested  were  they  in  the  latter  that 
they  frequently  accompanied  parties  of  emigrants  on 
to  the  vessel  to  speed  them  on  their  way.  Some  of 
their  later  schemes  were  for  the  establishment  of 
day-rooms  and  institutes  in  the  rural  districts 
around  their  county  town  of  Salisbury. 

Like  Miss  Nightingale,  Sidney  Herbert  was  a 
devoted  worker  in  connection  with  the  Established 
Churchy  and  proved  a  generous  benefactor  to  his 
diocese.  He  built  at  his  own  cost  of  ^^  30,000  the 
magnificent  church  at  Wilton,  and  presented  a  new 
rectory  and  grounds.  He  also  built  the  new  church 
at  Bemerton  in  memory  of  his  saintly  kinsman, 
George  Herbert,  and  gave  liberally  to  the  restoration 
of  churches  in  the  Salisbury  diocese.  He  was  a 
great  supporter  of  missionary  bishops.  It  has  well 
been  said  of  him  that  the  " bede-role  of  his  private  // 
charities  would  weary  the  patience  of  any  reader." 
He  was  the  founder  of  hospitals,  the  builder  of 
churches,  the  maintainer  of  schools,  and  his  right 
hand  knew  not  what  his  left  hand  gave. 


92         LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

In  social  life  Sidney  Herbert  was  a  fascinating 
personality,  and  might  be  described  as  a  modern 
hero  of  chivalry.  He  was  strikingly  handsome,  with 
a  commanding  figure  and  courtly  manners.  He 
appeared  to  possess  every  social  advantage — high 
birth,  a  great  estate,  a  beautiful  wife  and  children, 
one  of  the  happiest  homes  in  England,  many 
accomplishments,  a  ready  address,  a  silvery  voice, 
irresistible  manners,  and  a  rare  power  for  making 
friends.  It  was  said  that  men  would  give  up  to 
Sidney  Herbert  what  they  would  grant  to  no  one 
else.  In  his  younger  days  Sidney  Herbert  was 
sneered  at  by  Disraeli  as  a  maker  of  ''  pretty 
speeches,"  but  he  later  proved  that  there  was  grit 
behind  the  polished  exterior  of  his  personality. 

He  was  also,  as  Gladstone  described  him,  a  "  man 
of  routine."  His  labours  were  unceasing  ;  he  never 
spared  himself,  and  gave  up  life  and  luxury  for  toil 
and  trouble.  His  industry  and  power  of  organisa- 
tion were  remarkable.  ''  Great  as  were  the  works 
of  Lord  Herbert,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone  in  referring 
to  the  army  reforms  which  he  executed  after  the 
Crimea,  '*  there  was  something  if  possible  still  greater, 
and  that  was  the  character  of  Lord  Herbert.  .  .  . 
His  gentleness  combined  with  a  modesty  such  as  1, 
for  one,  never  knew  equalled  in  any  station  of 
life." 

Such,   then,   was   the   perfect  knight,  the  gallant 


SIDNEY,   LORD  HERBERT  OF  LEA  93 

gentleman,  under  the  stimulus  of  whose  private 
friendship  and  official  supervision  and  support 
Florence  Nightingale  entered  upon  the  great  work 
of  her  life. 

In  1852  Sidney  Herbert,  after  six  years'  retirement, 
again  took  office  and  became  Secretary  of  War  in 
Lord  Aberdeen's  Government.  Immediately  on  his 
return  to  the  War  Office  he  began  his  schemes  for 
army  reform.  He  instituted  classes  for  army  school- 
masters, established  industrial  and  infant  schools  in 
regiments,  and  also  matured  a  plan  for  forming  a 
board  of  examiners  who  should  conduct  all  examina- 
tions for  commissions  by  direct  appointment  or  for 
promotion  within  the  ranks  of  regimental  officers. 
His  plans  were  interrupted  by  the  outbreak  of  the 
Crimean  War. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  CRIMEAN  WAR  AND   CALL   TO  SERVICE 

Tribute  to  Florence  Nightingale  by  the  Countess  of  Lovelace — 
Outbreak  of  the  Crimean  War — Distressing  Condition  of  the 
Sick  and  Wounded — Mr.  W.  H.  Russell's  Letters  to  The  Times 
— Call  for  Women  Nurses — Mr.  Sidney  Herbert's  Letter  to 
Miss  Nightingale — She  offers  her  Services. 

The  bullet  comes — and  either 
A  desolate  hearth  may  see ; 
And  God  alone  to-night  knows  where 
The  vacant  place  may  be. 

Adelaide  Procter, 
Then,  then  a  woman's  low  soft  sympathy 
Comes  like  an  angel's  voice  to  teach  us  how  to  die. 

Edwin  Arnold. 

BEFORE  the  more  heroic  elements  in  Florence 
Nightingale's  character  had  been  evoked  by 
the  events  of  the  Crimean  War,  her  intimate  friends 
had  begun  to  regard  her  as  a  woman  for  whom  the 
future  held  some  great  destiny.  This  was  strikingly 
shown  in  a  poem  by  Ada,  Countess  of  Lovelace, 
the  daughter  of  Byron,  who  described  the  future 
heroine  of  the  Crimea  in  a  poem  entitled  A 
'Portrait  from  Life.  She  draws  the  picture  of  her 
slender  form,  her  "  grave  but  large  and  lucid  eye," 

94 


CRIMEAN  WAR  AND   CALL  TO  SERVICE     95 

her  ''  peaceful,  placid  loveliness,"  refers  to  her  love 
of  books,  her  "  soft,  silvery  voice  "  and  delight  in 
singing  sacred  songs — 

She  walks  as  if  on  heaven's  brink, 
Unscathed  through  life's  entangled  maze — 

and  in  a  concluding  verse  Lady  Lovelace  makes  the 
following  remarkable  prophecy  :  — 

In  future  years  in  distant  climes 

Should  war's  dread  strife  its  victims  claim, 

Should  pestilence,  unchecked  betimes, 

Strike  more  than  sword,  than  cannon  maim, 

He  who  then  reads  these  truthful  rhymes 
Will  trace  her  progress  to  undying  fame. 

The  "  war's  dread  strife  "  which,  in  fulfilment  of 
the  poet's  intuition,  was  to  lift  Florence  Nightingale 
into  "  undying  fame,"  began  in  the  early  spring  of 
1854.  An  outbreak  of  hostilities  between  Great 
Britain  and  Russia  had  been  impending  for  some 
months.  Russia  made  no  reply  to  the  ultimatum 
sent  by  Great  Britain,  and  on  March  27th,  1854, 
the  Queen's  Message  to  Parliament  announced  that 
the  negotiations  were  broken  off  with  Russia  and 
she  felt  bound  to  give  aid  to  the  Sultan  of  Turkey. 
The  following  day,  March  28th,  Her  Majesty's 
formal  declaration  of  war  was  read  amid  scenes  of 
excitement  and  enthusiasm  from  the  steps  of  the 
Royal  Exchange. 

France  was  England's  ally  for  the  protection  of 


96         LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Turkey  against  Russian  aggression,  and  vigorous 
preparations  for  the  campaign  proceeded  on  either 
side  of  the  Channel. 

A  few  days  after  the  declaration  of  war,  the 
English  fleet,  under  the  command  of  the  gallant  Sir 
Charles  Napier,  sailed  for  the  Baltic,  speeded  on  its 
way  by  thousands  of  cheering  spectators  and  by  the 
Queen  and  Prince  Consort,  who  came  in  their  yacht, 
the  Fairy ^  to  take  leave  of  the  officers  and  men. 
The  eyes  of  elderly  people  still  beam  and  brighten 
if  one  mentions  this  memorable  sailing  of  the  fleet 
for  the  Baltic.  It  was  then  forty  years  since 
Wellington  had  returned  victorious  from  Waterloo, 
and  the  blood  of  the  nation  was  up  for  another 
fight.  Time  had  deadened  the  memory  of  the 
horrors  and  suffering  which  war  entails  :  only  a 
thirst  for  glory  and  conquest  remained.  The  whole 
nation  echoed  the  words  of  Napier  to  his  men  : 
"Lads,' war  is  declared.  W^e  are  to  meet  a  bold 
and  numerous  enemy.  Should  they  ofl^er  us  battle, 
you  know  how  to  dispose  of  them.  Should  they 
remain  in  port,  we  must  try  to  get  at  them. 
Success  depends  upon  the  quickness  and  decision  of 
your  fire.  Lads,  sharpen  your  cutlasses,  and  the 
day  is  ours." 

In  due  time  tidings  came  of  the  victory  of  Alma. 
But  alas  for  the  brave  '*  lads,"  for  the  news  came 
too    of  the  wounded    lying  uncared  for,   the    sick 


SIDNEY,    LORD    HERBERT    OF    LEA. 


[To  face  p.  96. 


CRIMEAN   WAR  AND   CALL   TO  SERVICE    97 

untended,  the  dying  unconsoled.  In  the  midst  of 
the  nation's  rejoicings  at  victory  a  cry  of  indignation 
arose  on  behalf  of  her  soldiers. 

There  had  been  gross  neglect  in  the  war 
administration,  and  the  commissariat  had  broken 
down.  Food,  clothing,  and  comforts  had  been 
stowed  in  the  hold  of  vessels  beneath  ammunition 
and  could  not  be  got  at  when  required,  while 
other  stores  rotted  on  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus 
while  awaiting  delivery.  Not  only  were  food  and 
clothing  lamentably  scarce,  but  the  surgeons  were 
often  without  even  lint  and  bandages,  to  say 
nothing  of  other  requisites  for  ambulance  and 
hospital  work.  "  The  commonest  accessories  of  a 
hospital  are  wanting,"  wrote  T^he  Times  war  corre- 
spondent, William  Howard  Russell,  ''  there  is  not 
the  least  attention  paid  to  decency  or  cleanliness, 
the  stench  is  appalling  ;  .  .  .  and  for  all  I  can 
observe,  the  men  die  without  the  least  effort  to  save 
them.  There  they  lie  just  as  they  were  let  gently 
down  on  the  ground  by  the  poor  fellows,  the 
comrades,  who  brought  them  on  their  backs  from 
the  camp  with  the  greatest  tenderness,  but  who  are 
not  allowed  to  remain  with  them." 

The  staff  of  army  doctors  was  insufficient  to  deal 
with  the  wounded,  which  after  the  battles  of  Alma 
and  Inkerman  accumulated  in  appalling  numbers, 
and   there   were    no    nurses    except    the    untrained 

7 


98        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

male  orderlies,  many  of  whom  were  only  a  little 
less  sick  than  those  whom  they  were  supposed  to 
tend.  There  was  no  woman's  hand  to  soothe 
the  fevered  brow,  administer  nourishment,  perform 
the  various  little  offices  for  the  sick,  and  console  the 
dying. 

The  untended  and  uncared-for  state  of  our 
own  soldiers  was  rendered  more  conspicuous  by 
the  humane  system  which  prevailed  amongst  our 
French  allies.  In  camp  and  hospital  sisters  of 
mercy  glided  from  stretcher  to  stretcher,  and  from 
bed  to  bed,  administering  food  and  help  to  the 
wounded.  In  their  convent  homes  all  over  France 
they  had  been  trained  in  the  work  of  sick  nursing, 
and  their  holy  vocations  did  not  prevent  them 
from  going  forth  to  the  scene  of  battle. 

Soon  came  the  appeal  which  roused  Englishwomen 
and  their  country  to  a  sense  of  duty,  and  the 
honour  of  uttering  it  belongs  to  Mr.  (now  Sir) 
William  Howard  Russell,  the  veteran  war  corre- 
spondent, then  representing  l^he  'Times  at  the  seat 
of  war.  After  describing  the  suffering  which  he 
had  witnessed  amongst  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers,  he  raised  the  clarion  note  : — 

"Are  there  no  devoted  women  amongst  us,  able 
and  willing  to  go  forth  to  minister  to  the  sick 
and  suffering  soldiers  of  the  East  in  the  hospitals 
at  Scutari  }     Are  none  of  the  daughters  of  England, 


CRIMEAN  WAR  AND    CALL   TO  SERVICE    99 

at  this  extreme  hour  of  need,  ready  for  such  a 
work  of  mercy  ? .  .  ,  France  has  sent  forth  her 
sisters  of  mercy  unsparingly,  and  they  are  even 
now  by  the  bedsides  of  the  wounded  and  the 
dying,  giving  what  woman's  hand  alone  can  give 
of  comfort  and  relief.  .  .  .  Must  we  fall  so  far  below 
the  French  in  self-sacrifice  and  devotedness,  in  a 
work  which  Christ  so  signally  blesses  as  done  unto 
Himself?     *  I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  Me.'  " 

The  wives  of  officers  at  the  seat  of  war  sent 
home  harrowing  accounts  of  the  distress  amongst 
the  wounded  and  the  futility  of  their  own  efforts 
to  cope  with  it.  "  Could  you  see  the  scenes  that 
we  are  daily  witnessing,"  wrote  one  lady  to  her 
friends,  ''  you  would  indeed  be  distressed.  I  am 
still  in  barracks,  but  the  sick  are  now  lying  in 
the  passages,  within  a  few  yards  of  my  room. 
Every  corner  is  filled  up  with  the  sick  and  wounded. 
However,  I  am  enabled  to  do  some  little  good, 
and  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  obliged  to  leave  just 
yet.  My  time  is  occupied  in  cooking  for  the 
wounded.  Three  doors  from  me  there  is  an  officer's 
wife  who  devotes  herself  to  cooking  for  the  sick. 
There  are  no  female  nurses  here,  which  decidedly 
there  ought  to  be.  The  French  have  sent  fifty 
sisters  of  mercy,  who,  we  need  hardly  say,  are 
devoted  to  the  work.  We  are  glad  to  hear  that 
some  efforts  are  being  made  at  home." 


loo      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

The  reason  why  female  nurses  had  not  been 
sent  out  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was  explained 
by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  Secretary  of  State  for 
War,  when  he  gave  evidence  before  Mr.  Roebuck's 
Commission,  which  sat  in  1855  to  inquire  into 
the  conduct  of  the  campaign,  and  it  is  of  interest 
to  quote  the  evidence  as  it  so  exactly  explains  the 
train  of  circumstances  which  led  to  Miss  Nightingale's 
appointment.  Asked  "  When  did  you  first  deter- 
mine on  sending  nurses  to  Scutari  ?  "  the  Duke 
replied  : — 

"The  employment  of  nurses  in  the  hospital  at 
Scutari  was  mooted  in  this  country,  at  an  early 
stage  before  the  army  left  this  country,  but  it  was 
not  liked  by  the  military  authorities.  It  had  been 
tried  on  former  occasions.  The  class  of  women 
employed  as  nurses  had  been  very  much  addicted 
to  drinking,  and  they  were  found  even  more  callous 
to  the  sufferings  of  soldiers  in  hospitals  than  men 
would  have  been.  Subsequently,  in  consequence  of 
letters  in  the  public  press,  and  of  recommendations 
made  by  gentlemen  who  had  returned  to  this 
country  from  Scutari,  we  began  to  consider  the 
subject  of  employing  nurses.  The  difficulty  was  to 
get  a  lady  to  take  in  hand  the  charge  of  superin- 
tending and  directing  a  body  of  nurses.  After 
having  seen  one  or  two  I  almost  despaired  of  the 
practicability  of  the  matter  until  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert 


CRIMEAN   WAR  AND   CALL   TO  SERVICE  loi 

suggested  Miss  Nightingale,  with  whom  he  had 
been  previously  acquainted,  for  the  work,  and  that 
lady  eventually  undertook  it." 

Here  we  have  the  difficulty  of  the  situation 
revealed.  The  nurses  hitherto  employed  in  military 
hospitals  had  been  of  a  coarse,  low  character.  They 
had  neither  education,  training,  nor  sympathy  for 
their  work.  To  compare  them  to  "  Sairey  Gamp  " 
would  be  an  insult  to  that  imm^ortal  lady's  memory, 
for  she  had  her  good  points  and  a  certain  pro- 
fessional knowledge  and  respectability  to  maintain, 
while  the  average  soldiers'  nurse  was  httle  more  than 
a  mere  camp  follower.  On  the  other  hand  were 
the  good,  kindly  ladies  who  felt  that  they  had  a 
vocation  for  nursing,  but,  alas  !  were  absolutely 
devoid  of  training  and  incapable  of  organising  and 
controlling  subordinates.  Between  these  two  im- 
possible classes  the  war  authorities  had  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  army  in  the  Crimea  would 
be  better  without  female  nurses. 

The  rousing  appeal  to  the  women  of  the  country 
from  Mr.  Russell,  l^he  Times  correspondent,  already 
quoted,  had  the  effect  of  inundating  the  authorities 
with  applications  from  women  of  all  classes  who, 
moved  by  the  harrowing  accounts  of  the  suffering 
soldiers,  were  anxious  to  go  out  as  nurses.  The 
offers  of  help  were  bewilderingly  numerous,  but 
there  was  no  organisation  and  no  leader. 


102      LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  was  at  the  head  of  the  War 
Department,  and,  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement 
and  general  futility  of  things,  his  thoughts  naturally 
turned  to  his  honoured  friend,  Florence  Nightingale. 
In  his  opinion  she  was  the  "  one  woman  "  in  England 
who  was  fitted  by  position,  knowledge,  training,  and 
character  to  organise  a  nursing  staff  and  take  them 
out  to  the  aid  of  the  suffering  soldiers.  He  had, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  an  intimate  personal 
knowledge  of  Miss  Nightingale,  was  aware  of  the 
thorough  and  systematic  study  which  she  had  for 
some  years  been  giving  to  hospital  nursing  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  he  knew  also  of  the  organising  skill 
which  she  had  been  recently  displaying  in  the 
management  of  the  Harley  Street  Home  for  Sick 
Governesses.  Mrs.  Herbert,  a  lady  of  great  insight 
and  knowledge,  felt  with  her  husband  that  if  Miss 
Nightingale  could  be  induced  to  undertake  the 
hazardous  task  of  organising  a  band  of  military 
nurses,  the  success  of  the  scheme  would  be  ensured. 

But  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Herbert  had  a  natural 
hesitation  in  making  such  a  suggestion.  It  was 
tantamount  to  asking  their  dear  friend  to  go  out 
with  her  life  in  her  hands,  as  well  as  to  brave  the 
adverse  criticism  of  a  large  number  of  short-sighted 
but  well-meaning  people,  who  would  lift  up  their 
hands  in  protest  at  the  idea  of  a  lady  of  birth  and 
breeding  going  put  to    nurse  the    common  soldier. 


CRIMEAN  WAR  AND   CALL   TO  SERVICE  103 

Poor  *'  Tommy  '*  had  a  worse  character  then  than 
now. 

It  was  clear  to  Mr.  Herbert  that  if  Miss 
Nightingale  were  to  be  asked  to  undertake  this 
work,  she  must  be  placed  in  an  undisputed  position 
of  authority  and  supported  by  the  Government. 
Everything  depended  on  having  a  recognised  head. 
To  allow  bands  of  lady  nurses  to  start  for  the  seat 
of  war,  each  carrying  out  their  pet  and  immature 
notions  on  hospital  work,  would  have  been  futile 
and  useless.  To  send  them  to  Scutari  and  place 
them  under  the  control  of  the  authorities  then 
in  charge  of  the  hospital,  would  have  defeated  the 
chief  object  of  the  plan,  which  was  to  reform  and 
amend  the  existing  order  of  nursing  prevailing  at 
the  hospital.  Neither  was  it  likely  that  so  shrewd 
and  capable  a  woman  as  Miss  Nightingale  would 
consent  to  organise  a  new  nursing  system — for 
it  practically  amounted  to  that — unless  she  was 
guaranteed  a  position  of  undisputed  authority. 
How  necessary  that  was  to  the  success  of  the 
enterprise  after  events  fully  proved. 

Fortunately,  Sidney  Herbert  was  a  statesman  in 
a  position  to  influence  his  colleagues  in  the  Govern- 
ment, and  his  recommendation  of  Miss  Nightingale 
as  a  lady  fully  qualified  to  perform  the  task  of 
Superintendent  of  Nurses  for  the  Crimea  was 
received  with  approval,  and  indeed  with  a  sense  of 


I04      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

relief.  Here  was  the  woman  whom  distraught 
Ministers  had  been  vainly  looking  for  amidst  the 
motley  throng  of  the  unfit.  When  things  were  so 
far  arranged,  Sidney  Herbert  addressed  the  following 
letter  to  his  friend  : — 

"  October  i^th,  1854. 

''  Dear  Miss  Nightingale, — 

"  You  will  have  seen  in  the  papers  that 
there  is  a  great  deficiency  of  nurses  at  the  hospital 
of  Scutari.  The  other  alleged  deficiencies — namely, 
of  medical  men,  lint,  sheets,  etc. — must,  if  they  ever 
existed,  have  been  remedied  ere  this,  as  the  number 
of  medical  officers  with  the  army  amounted  to  one 
to  every  ninety-five  men  in  the  whole  force,  being 
nearly  double  what  we  have  ever  had  before  ;  and 
thirty  more  surgeons  went  out  there  three  weeks 
ago,  and  must  by  this  time,  therefore,  be  at  Con- 
stantinople. A  further  supply  went  on  Monday, 
and  a  fresh  batch  sail  next  week.  As  to  medical 
stores,  they  have  been  sent  out  in  profusion,  by 
the  ton  weight — fifteen  thousand  pairs  of  sheets, 
medicine,  wine,  arrowroot  in  the  same  proportion  ; 
and  the  only  way  of  accounting  for  the  deficiency  at 
Scutari,  if  it  exists,  is  that  the  mass  of  the  stores 
went  to  Varna,  and  had  not  been  sent  back  when 
the  army  left  for  the  Crimea,  but  four  days  would 
have  remedied  that. 


CRIMEAN  WAR  AND   CALL    TO  SERVICE  105 

"  In  the  meanwhile,  stores  are  arriving,  but  the 
deficiency  of  female  nurses  is  undoubted  ;  none 
but  male  nurses  have  ever  been  admitted  to  military 
hospitals.  It  would  be  impossible  to  carry  about 
a  large  staff  of  female  nurses  with  an  army  in  the 
field.  But  at  Scutari,  having  now  a  fixed  hospital, 
no  military  reason  exists  against  the  introduction, 
and  I  am  confident  they  might  be  introduced  with 
great  benefit,  for  hospital  orderlies  must  be  very 
rough  hands,  and  most  of  them,  on  such  an  occasion 
as  this,  very  inexperienced  ones.  I  receive  numbers 
of  offers  from  ladies  to  go  out,  but  they  are  ladies 
who  have  no  conception  of  what  a  hospital  is,  nor 
of  the  nature  of  its  duties  ;  and  they  would,  when 
the  time  came,  either  recoil  from  the  work  or  be 
entirely  useless,  and  consequently,  what  is  worse, 
entirely  in  the  way  ;  nor  would  those  ladies  probably 
even  understand  the  necessity,  especially  in  a  military 
hospital,  of  strict  obedience  to  rule.  .   .  ." 

Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  then  proceeds  to  name 
certain  people  who  were  anxious  to  organise  and 
send  out  nurses,  but  about  whose  capability  for  the 
work  he  is  in  doubt.     The  letter  then  continues  : — 

"  There  is  but  one  person  in  England  that  1 
know  of  who  would  be  capable  of  organising 
and  superintending  such  a  scheme,  and  I  have 
been  several  times  on  the  point  of  asking  you 
hypothetically  if,  supposing  the  attempt  were  made, 


io6       LIFE  OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

you  would  undertake  to  direct  it.  The  selection 
of  the  rank  and  file  of  nurses  would  be  difficult — 
no  one  knows  that  better  than  yourself.  The 
difficulty  of  finding  women  equal  to  a  task  after 
all  full  of  horror,  and  requiring,  besides  knowledge 
and  goodwill,  great  knowledge  and  great  courage, 
will  be  great  ;  the  task  of  ruling  them  and  in- 
troducing system  among  them  great,  and  not  the 
least  will  be  the  difficulty  of  making  the  whole 
work  smoothly  with  the  medical  and  military 
authorities  out  there.  This  it  is  which  makes 
it  so  important  that  the  experiment  should  be 
carried  out  by  one  with  administrative  capacity  and 
experience. 

*'  A  number  ot  sentimental  enthusiastic  ladies 
turned  loose  in  the  hospital  at  Scutari  would  pro- 
bably, after  a  few  days,  be  mises  a  la  porte  by 
those  whose  business  they  would  interrupt,  and 
whose  authority  they  would  dispute.  My  question 
simply  is,  Would  you  listen  to  the  request  to  go 
out  and  supervise  the  whole  thing  ?  You  would, 
of  course,  have  plenary  authority  over  all  the  nurses, 
and  I  think  I  could  secure  you  the  fullest  assistance 
and  co-operation  from  the  medical  staff,  and  you 
would  also  have  an  unlimited  power  of  drawing 
on  the  Government  for  whatever  you  think  requisite 
for  the  success  of  your  mission.  .   .  . 

"  I  do  not  say  one  word  to  press  you,"  continues 


CRIMEAN  WAR  AND   CALL   TO  SERVICE  107 

Mr.  Sidney  Herbert,  and  then  proceeds  to  pay  a 
tribute  to  Miss  Nightingale's  capabilities  for  filling 
a  public  post  at  an  hour  of  crisis  such  as  no 
responsible  Minister  of  a  Government  had  ever  paid 
to  a  woman  before,  or  indeed  since. 

"  I  must  not  conceal  from  you,"  he  continues, 
"  that  upon  your  decision  will  depend  the  ultimate 
success  or  failure  of  the  plan.  Your  own  personal 
qualities,  your  knowledge,  and  your  power  of 
administration,  and,  among  greater  things,  your  rank 
and  position  in  society,  give  you  advantages  in  such 
a  work  which  no  other  person  possesses.  If  this 
succeeds,  an  enormous  amount  of  good  will  be  done 
now,  and  to  persons  deserving  everything  at  our 
hands  ;  and  which  will  multiply  the  good  to  all 
time. 

"  I  hardly  like  to  be  sanguine  as  to  your  answer. 
If  it  were  yes,  I  am  certain  the  Bracebridges  would 
go  with  you,  and  give  you  all  the  comforts  you 
would  require,  and  which  her  [Mrs.  Bracebridge's] 
society  and  sympathy  only  could  give  you.  I  have 
written  very  long,  for  the  subject  is  very  near  my 
heart.  Liz  [Mrs.  Sidney  Herbert]  is  writing  to 
our  mutual  friend  Mrs.  Bracebridge,  to  tell  her 
what  I  am  doing.  I  go  back  to  town  to-morrow 
morning.  Shall  I  come  to  you  between  three  and 
five?  Will  you  let  me  have  a  line  at  the  War 
Office,  to  let  me  know  ? 


io8      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

"  There  is  one  point  which  I  have  hardly  a 
right  to  touch  upon,  but  I  trust  you  will  pardon 
me.  If  you  were  inclined  to  undertake  the  great 
woikj  would  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nightingale  consent } 
The  work  would  be  so  national,  and  the  request 
made  to  you  proceeding  from  the  Government, 
your  position  would  ensure  the  respect  and  con- 
sideration of  every  one,  especially  in  a  service  where 
official  rank  carries  so  much   weio-ht.     This    would 

o 

secure  you  any  attention  or  comfort  on  your  way 
out  there,  together  with  a  complete  submission 
to  your  orders.  I  know  these  things  are  a  matter 
of  indifference  to  you,  except  as  far  as  they  may 
further  the  great  object  you  may  have  in  view, 
but  they  are  of  importance  in  themselves,  and  of 
every  importance  to  those  who  have  a  right  to  take 
an  interest  in  your  personal  position  and  comfort. 
I  know  you  will  come  to  a  right  and  wise  decision. 
God  grant  it  may  be  one  in  accordance  with  my 
hopes. 

"Believe  me,   dear    Miss   Nightingale, 
"  Ever  yours, 

"Sidney  Herbert." 

Meantime  the  "  one  woman  in  all  England " 
deemed  worthy  of  this  high  trust  was  in  the 
quietude  of  her  country  home  pondering  over  the 
stirring   words    of   Mr.    Russell,    The   'Times    corre- 


CRIMEAN   WAR  AND   CALL   TO  SERVICE  109 

spondent  :  **  Are  there  no  devoted  women  amongst 
us,  able  and  willing  to  go  forth  to  minister  to 
the  sick  and  suffering  soldiers  in  the  hospitals  of 
Scutari  ?  "  Each  morning  the  newspapers  revealed 
fresh  sufferings  and  privations  amongst  the  stricken 
soldiers,  and  the  cries  for  help  grew  more  importu- 
nate. Florence  Nightingale  was  not  the  woman  to 
listen  in  vain,  and  ere  the  sun  had  faded  away 
behind  the  beech-trees  on  that  memorable  15th  of 
October,  she  had  written  to  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert 
offering  her  services  in  the  hospitals   at  Scutari. 

Her  letter  crossed  that  of  Mr.  Herbert,  of  which 
she  was  in  complete  ignorance.  The  unique  circum- 
stance gives  a  rounded  completeness  to  the  call  of 
Florence  Nightingale  which  came  as  the  voice 
of  God  speaking  through  her  tender  woman's 
heart. 


CHAPTER    XI 

PREPARATION  AND  DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI 

Public  Curiosity  Aroused — Description  of  Miss  Nightingale  in  the 
Press — Criticism— She  Selects  Thirty-Eight  Nurses — Depar- 
ture of  the  "  Angel  Band  " — Enthusiasm  of  Boulogne  Fisher- 
women — Arrival  at  Scutari. 

Lo,  what  gentillesse  these  women  have, 
If  we  coude  know  it  for  our  rudenesse ! 
How  busie  they  be  us  to  keepe  and  save, 
Both  in  hele,  and  also  in  sickenesse ! 
And  always  right  sorrie  for  our  distresse, 
In  every  manner;  thus  shew  thy  routhe, 
That  in  hem  is  al  goodnesse  and  trouthe. 

Chaucer. 

IT  is  characteristic  of  Miss  Nightingale's  method 
and  dispatch  that  only  a  week  elapsed  from 
the  day  on  which  she  made  her  great  resolve  to 
go  to  the  help  of  the  wounded  soldiers  until  she 
had  her  first  contingent  of  nurses  in  marching  order. 
She  was  a  '*  general  '*  who  had  no  parleying  by  the 
way,  but  worked  straight  for  her  ultimate  object, 
and  she  possessed  also  the  rare  faculty  of  inspiring 
others  to  follow  her  lead.     Her  attention  was  now 


DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI  iii 

concentrated  on  procuring  the  right  kind  of  nurses 
to  accompany  her  to  the  hospital  at  Scutari. 

Her  mission  was  duly  proclaimed  from  the  War 
Omce  in  an  official  intimation  that  ''Miss  Nightingale, 
a  lady  with  greater  practical  experience  of  hospital 
administration  and  treatment  than  any  other  lady  in 
this  country,"  had  undertaken  the  noble  and  arduous 
work  of  organising  and  taking  out  nurses  for  the 
soldiers.  The  Times  also  notified  that  "  Miss 
Nightingale  had  been  appointed  by  Government  to 
the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Nurses  at  Scutari/* 
and  subscriptions  for  the  relief  of  the  soldiers  were 
solicited. 

Lady  Canning,  writing  on  October  17th,  1854,  im- 
mediately after  Miss  Nightingale's  appointment  was 
made  known,  gave  the  following  interesting  de- 
scription of  her  quiet  demeanour  in  the  midst  of 
the  general  excitement  :  '*  You  will  be  glad  to 
hear  that  Government  sends  out  a  band  of  nurses 
to  Scutari,  and  Miss  Nightingale  is  to  lead  them. 
Her  family  have  consented,  and  no  one  is  so  well 
fitted  as  she  Is  to  do  such  work — she  has  such 
nerve  and  skill,  and  is  so  gentle  and  wise  and 
quiet.  Even  now  she  is  in  no  bustle  or  hurry, 
though  so  much  is  on  her  hands,  and  such  numbers 
of  people  volunteer  services." 

The  pubhc  naturally  asked  the  question,  "Who 
is    Miss  Nightingale .?  "   and   were    ansv/ered    by  a 


112       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

descriptive  and  biographic  account  in  The  Examiner^ 
which  was  repeated  by  The  Times.  One  feels  that 
the  account  must  have  appeared  startHng  in  days 
before  attention  had  been  given  to  the  Higher 
Education  of  women,  and  when  Girton  and  Newn- 
ham  were  not  even  dreams  of  the  future.  It  ran 
that  Miss  Nightingale  was  "  a  young  lady  of  singular 
endowments  both  natural  and  acquired.  In  a  know- 
ledge of  the  ancient  languages  and  of  the  higher 
branches  of  mathematics,  in  general  art,  science^  and 
literature,  her  attainments  are  extraordinary.  There 
is  scarcely  a  modern  language  which  she  does  not 
understand,  and  she  speaks  French,  German,  and 
Italian  as  fluently  as  her  native  English.  She  has 
visited  and  studied  all  the  various  nations  of  Europe, 
and  has  ascended  the  Nile  to  its  remotest  cataract. 
Young  (about  the  age  of  our  Queen),  graceful, 
feminine,  rich,  popular,  she  holds  a  singularly  gentle 
and  persuasive  influence  over  all  with  whom  she 
comes  in  contact.  Her  friends  and  acquaintances 
are  of  all  classes  and  persuasions,  but  her  happiest 
place  is  at  home,  in  the  centre  of  a  very  large  band 
of  accomplished  relatives,  and  in  simplest  obedience 
to  her  admiring  parents." 

The  last  clause  would  satisfy  apprehensive  people 
that  a  young  lady  of  such  unusual  attainments  was 
not  a  "  revolting   daughter." 

Another  and  more  intimate  description    of  Miss 


DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI 


113 


Nightingale  at  this  period  reveals  to  us  the  true 
and  tender  womanhood  which  learning  had  left 
untouched.  "  Miss  Nightingale  is  one  of  those 
whom  God  forms  for  great  ends.  You  cannot  hear 
her  say  a  few  sentences — no,  not  even  look  at  her, 


'III,  ~:   I  Ml      ■  ,  '  '  .  (V'\! 


^\  ^i 


^'ll' 

MR.    PUNCH'S   CARTOON    OF    THE    "  LADY-EIRDS." 

without  feeling  that  she  is  an  extraordinary  being. 
Simple,  intellectual,  sweet,  full  of  love  and  bene- 
volence, she  is  a  fascinating  and  perfect  woman. 
She  is  tall  and  pale.  Her  face  is  exceedingly  lovely  ; 
but  better  than  all  is  the  soul's  glory  that  shines 
through  every  feature  so  exultingly.     Nothing  can 

8 


114      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

be  sweeter  than  her  smile.  It  is  like  a  sunny  day 
in  summer.*' 

The  euphonious  name  of  the  lady  nurse  who 
had  thus  suddenly  risen  into  fame  was  quickly 
caught  by  the  populace,  and  the  nurses  selected  to 
accompany  her  were  dubbed  the  "  nightingales,'* 
and  there  was  much  pleasantry  about  their  singing. 
Mr.  Vunch  slyly  surmised  that  some  of  the  "  dear 
nightingales "  going  to  nurse  the  sick  soldiers 
would  "  in  due  time  become  ringdoves."  A 
cartoon  showed  a  hospital  ward  with  the  male 
inmates  beaming  with  content  as  the  lady-birds 
hovered  about  them.  Another  illustration  depicted 
a  bird,  with  the  head  of  a  nurse,  flying  through 
the  air  carrying  by  one  claw  a  jug  labelled  "  Fo- 
mentation, Embrocation,  Gruel."  It  was  entitled 
**  The  Jug  of  the  Nightingale." 

Punch's  poet  contributed  '*  The  Nightingale's 
Song  to  the  Sick  Soldier,"  which  became  a  popular 
refrain,  and   is  worthy  of  quotation  : — 

Listen,  soldier,  to  the  tale  of  the  tender  nightingale, 

'Tis  a  charm  that  soon  will  ease  your  wounds  so  cruel, 

Singing  medicine  for  your  pain,  in  a  sympathetic  strain, 
With  a  jug,  jug,  jug  of  lemonade  or  gruel. 

Singing  bandages  and  lint ;  salve  and  cerate  without  stint, 
Singing  plenty  both  of  liniment  and  lotion, 

And   your   mixtures    pushed   about,    and    the   pills    for   you 
served  out, 
With  alacrity  and  promptitude  of  motion. 


DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI  115 

Singing   light   and   gentle    hands,    and   a  nurse  who  under- 
stands 
How  to  manage  every  sort  of  application, 
From   a   poultice   to   a   leech ;    whom  you    haven't    got    to 
teach 
The  way  to  make  a  poppy  fomentation. 

Singing    pillow    for  you,    smoothed;    smart    and   ache    and 
anguish  smoothed, 
By  the  readiness  of  feminine  invention  ; 
Singing  fever's  thirst  allayed,  and   the   bed  you've  tumbled 
made. 
With  a  cheerful  and  considerate  attention. 

Singing    succour    to    the    brave,    and    a    rescue    from    the 
grave, 

Hear  the  nightingale  that's  come  to  the  Crimea, 
'Tis  a  nightingale  as  strong  in  her  heart  as  in  her  song, 

To  carry  out  so  gallant  an  idea. 

While  there  was  a  large  majority  to  wish  God- 
speed to  the  enterprise,  there  were  also  many  people 
who  considered  it  an  improper  thing  for  women  to 
nurse  in  a  military  hospital,  while  others  thought  it 
nonsense  for  young  ladies  to  attempt  "to  nurse 
soldiers  when  they  did  not  even  yet  know  what  it 
was  to  nurse  a  baby."  Others  predicted  that  no 
woman  could  stand  the  strain  of  work  in  an  Eastern 
hospital,  that  the  scheme  would  prove  futile,  and  all 
the  nurses  be  invalided  home  after  a  month's 
experience. 

The  undertaking  was  so  new,  and  so  much  at 
variance    with   English    custom   and  tradition,    that 


ii6      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

criticism  was  to  be  expected.  But  Florence  Nightin- 
gale was  one  of  those  lofty  souls  who  listen  to 
the  voice  within,  and  take  little  heed  of  the  voices 
without.  It  was  for  her  to  break  down  the 
''  Chinese  wall  "  of  prejudices,  religious,  social,  and 
professional,  and  establish  a  precedent  for  all  time. 

In  the  midst  of  the  pleasantries,  satire,  and  con- 
demnation she  placidly  pursued  the  work  of 
organising  her  band,  having  indefatigable  assistants 
in  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Herbert.  Applications 
were  made  for  volunteer  nurses  to  the  few  nursing 
institutions  which  existed,  and  advertisements  were 
put  in  'The  Record  m\d  The  Guardian.  A  bewildering 
number  of  fair  applicants  besieged  the  War  Office, 
and  Sidney  Herbert  was  driven  to  make  a  little 
proclamation  to  the  effect  that  **  many  ladies  whose 
generous  enthusiasm  prompts  them  to  offer  services 
as  nurses  are  little  aware  of  the  hardships  they 
would  have  to  encounter,  and  the  horrors  they 
would  have  to  witness.  Were  all  accepted  who 
offer,"  he  added  with  a  touch  of  grim  humour,  **  I 
fear  we  should  have  not  only  many  indifferent 
nurses,  but  many  hysterical  patients.** 

This  astute  Minister  was  very  cautious  about  the 
admission  of  society  ladies  in  the  guise  of  amateur 
nurses  into  the  military  hospital.  He  managed 
things  with  a  stricter  hand  than  did  the  authorities 
during  the  South  African  War,  as  illustrated  by  the 


DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI  117 

story  of  a  soldier  in  the  Capetown  Hospital  who, 
when  a  visiting  lady  asked  if  he  would  like  her 
to  wash  his  face,  replied,  '*  Excuse  me,  miss,  but 
I've  already  promised  fourteen  ladies  as  they  shall 
wash  my  face  !  " 

The  first  appeal  for  nurses  did  not  bring  satis- 
factory applicants.  Kind,  generous,  and  sympathetic 
women  volunteered  by  the  score,  but  Miss 
Nightingale  and  her  friends  felt  that  they  were 
dealing  with  a  crisis  of  urgency.  There  was  no 
time  to  start  ambulance  classes  and  train  candidates. 
It  was  an  imperative  necessity  that  the  nurses  should 
start  without  delay,  and  therefore  they  must  have 
been  already  trained  for  the  work.  In  the  emergency 
Miss  Nightingale  applied  to  both  Protestant  and 
Roman  Catholic  institutions  for  volunteers.  This 
caused  a  good  deal  of  adverse  criticism.  The  "  No 
Popery "  cry  was  raised,  and  zealous  clerics  in- 
veighed against  Miss  Nightingale  as  a  Puseyite 
who  was  bent  on  perverting  the  British  soldier  to 
papacy.  She  certainly  was  at  the  time  more  engaged 
with  the  bodily  than  with  the  spiritual  needs  of 
the  soldiers.  Nurses  were  required,  not  religious 
instructors. 

With  some  of  the  Protestant  institutions  a 
difficulty  arose  in  respect  to  the  rule  of  strict 
obedience  to  Miss  Nightingale  as  the  Superin- 
tendent   appointed    by    the    Government.      These 


ii8       LIFE    OF  FLOREI^CE  NIGHTINGALE 

institutions  were  unwilling  that  their  members  should 
be  separated  from  home  control.  Miss  Nightingale 
and  her  advisers  remained  firm  on  this  point. 
Strict  obedience  was  the  pivot  upon  which  the 
organisation  would  have  to  work,  if  it  was  to  be 
successful.  The  military  nurse,  like  the  military- 
man,  must  render  obedience  to  her  superior  officer. 
The  St.  John's  House,  one  of  the  most  important 
of  the  Protestant  sisterhood,  stood  out  for  a  day 
or  two,  but  finally  yielded  the  point. 

The  Roman  Catholic  bishop  at  once  agreed  to 
the  regulations  laid  down,  and  signed  a  paper 
agreeing  that  the  sisters  of  mercy  joining  the 
expedition  should  give  entire  obedience  to  Miss 
Nightingale,  and  that  they  should  not  enter  into 
religious  discussion  except  with  the  soldiers  of  their 
own  faith.  Mutual  arrangement  was  made  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  sisters  should  attend  on  the  soldiers 
of  their  own  faith,  and  the  Protestant  sisters  on 
those  of  their  faith. 

The  position  was  later  defined  by  Mr.  Sidney 
Herbert  to  allay  the  agitation  which  prevailed  after 
the  band  had  set  forth.  He  said  :  '*  The  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  has  voluntarily,  and  in  writing,  re- 
leased the  benevolent  persons  who  were  previously 
under  his  control  from  all  subjection  to  himself. 
Englishmen  may  have  the  pleasure  of  feeling  that 
a  number  of  kind-hearted  British  women,  differing 


DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI  119 

in  faith,  but  wishing  to  do  practical  good,  are  gone 
in  one  ship,  as  one  corps,  with  one  aim,  without 
any  compromise  of  our  national  Protestantism.  .  .  . 
Thirty-eight  nurses  on  their  way  to  Scutari  are  truer 
successors  of  the  Apostles  shipwrecked  at  Melita 
than  an  equal  number  of  cardinals.  May  the  war 
teach  men  many  such  lessons." 

The  thirty-eight  nurses  selected  to  accompany 
Miss  Nightingale  as  the  first  contingent  were 
made  up  of  fourteen  Church  of  England  sisters,  taken 
from  St.  John's  House  and  Miss  Selton's  Home  ; 
ten  Roman  Catholic  sisters  of  mercy  ;  three  nurses 
selected  by  Lady  Maria  Forrester,  who  had  first 
formed  a  plan  for  sending  nurses  to  Scutari  ;  and 
eleven  selected  from  among  miscellaneous  applicants. 
Miss  Nightingale's  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bracebridge 
of  Atherstane  Hall,  and  a  clergyman  and  courier 
accompanied  the  expedition.  It  started  from  London 
on  the  evening  of  October  21st,  1854. 

Our  heroine  has  ever  been  one  of  those  who 
shunned  the  glare  of  publicity,  and  it  was  character- 
istic of  her  that  she  set  forth  with  her  devoted  band 
under  cover  of  night.  Only  a  few  relations  and 
friends  stood  on  the  platform  of  the  terminus  on 
that  October  evening  when  Florence  Nightingale 
bade  farewell  to  home  and  kindred  and  started 
on  her  great  mission,  the  magnitude  and  difficulty 
of  which  she  had  yet  to  discover.     Quietly  dressed 


I20      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

in  black,  plain  as  a  Quakeress,  she  was  yet  a  striking 
figure.  As  the  last  hand-shake  was  given  and  the 
last  farewells  said  her  beautiful  face  retained  its 
calm  demeanour  and  was  illumined  by  a  sweet  smile. 
Ever  thoughtful  for  others,  her  chief  wish  was  to 
spare  her  nearest  and  dearest,  who  had  yielded  a 
hesitating  consent  to  her  undertaking,  from  anxiety. 
None  knew  better  than  herself  the  perils  which  lay 
in  those  far-off  Eastern  hospitals. 

Early  next  morning  the  *'  Angel  Band,"  as  King- 
lake  so  beautifully  termed  Miss  Nightingale  and 
her  nurses,  landed  at  Boulogne,  where  a  reception 
awaited  them  which  was  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
quiet  and  almost  secret  departure  from  London  the 
night  before.  France  was  our  ally  ;  her  sons  had 
fallen  in  the  recent  battle  of  the  Alma  beside  our  own, 
and  here  was  a  band  of  English  sisters,  Protestant 
and  Roman  Catholic,  united  in  a  common  errand 
of  mercy  passing  through  her  land  to  the  relief  of 
the  sick  and  wounded.  It  was  a  circumstance  to 
arouse  French  enthusiasm,  and  when  Miss  Nightingale 
and  her  nurses  stepped  ashore  they  were  met  by 
a  stalwart  company  of  Boulogne  fishwives,  a  merry 
and  picturesque  band  in  snowy  caps  and  gay 
petticoats,  who  seized  trunks  and  bags  and  almost 
fought  for  the  privilege  of  carrying  the  luggage 
of  les  sceurs  to  the  railway  station.  They  would 
accept    no  pay,   not  a  sou,   and  they  bustled  along 


DEPARTURE  FOR  SCUTARI  121 

with  their  brawny  arms  swinging  to  straps  and 
handles,  or  with  boxes  hoisted  on  their  broad  backs, 
chattering  of  '^  Pierre "  or  of  '*  Jacques"  out  at 
the  war,  and  praying  the  hon  Bieu  that  if  he 
suffered  the  sisters  might  tend  him.  The  tears 
streamed  down  many  of  the  old  and  weather-beaten 
cheeks  when  they  said  adieu.  They  claimed  but 
one  reward,  a  shake  of  the  hand,  and  then  as  the 
train  steamed  out  of  the  station  they  waved  their 
hands  and  cried  Vive  les  sosurs  ! 

They  proceeded  to  Paris  and  made  a  passing  stay 
at  the  mother-house  of  the  sisters  of  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul,  where  Miss  Nightingale  was  no  stranger. 
The  good  sisters  were  overwhelmed  with  joy  to 
receive  her,  and  delighted  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  entertaining  the  company.  Before  leaving  Paris 
Miss  Nightingale  called  on  her  friend  Lady  Canning, 
who,  in  a  letter,  October  24th,  1854,  says  :  "To-day 
we  are  appointed  to  go  to  St.  Cloud,  and  I  have 
had  to  rush  about  after  bonnets,  etc.  It  is  horrid 
to  be  given  to  frivolities  just  now,  when  one  is 
hearing  all  the  horrors  from  the  Crimea,  and  in  the 
expectation  of  more.  .  .  .  Miss  Nightingale  came  to 
see  me — very  happy  and  stout-hearted,  and  with  an 
ample  stock  of  nurses.'*  When,  after  a  short  rest 
in  Paris,  Miss  Nightingale  and  her  band  set  out 
for  Marseilles,  the  port  of  embarkation,  they  met 
with  the  utmost  attention  as  they  travelled.      Porters 


122       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

declined  to  be  tipped  and  hotel  proprietors  would 
make  no  charges.  It  was  an  honour  to  serve  les 
bonnes  sosurs. 

At  Marseilles  they  embarked  for  Constantinople 
in  the  Vectis^  a  steamer  of  the  Peninsular  line. 
Alas  !  the  elements  showed  no  more  favour  to  the 
"Angel  Band"  than  they  did  to  St.  Paul  in  the 
same  seas.  The  passage  was  a  terrible  one.  A 
hurricane  blew  straight  against  the  Vectis  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  for  a  time  the  ship  was  in  danger. 
The  company  reached  Malta  on  October  31st,  and 
after  a  brief  stay  set  sail  for  Scutari.  Miss  Nightin- 
gale arrived  at  the  scene  of  her  labours  on 
November  4th,  the  day  before  the  battle  of  Inkerman. 
What  that  victory  meant  in  the  tale  of  suffering  and 
wounded  men  even  the  hospital  authorities  then 
formed  no  adequate  conjecture.  Never  surely  did 
a  band  of  women  arriving  in  an  unknown  land 
meet  such  a  gigantic  task. 

The  sufferers  already  in  hospital  had  heard  of  the 
coming  of  the  sisters,  but  the  news  seemed  too  good 
to  be  true,  and  when  Miss  Nightingale  went  her 
first  round  of  the  wards,  accompanied  by  members 
of  her  devoted  band,  *'  Tommy's "  heart  was  full. 
One  poor  fellow  burst  into  tears  as  he  cried,  *'  I 
can't  help  it,  I  can't  indeed,  when  I  see  them. 
Only  think  of  English  women  coming  out  here  to 
nurse  us  !      It  seems  so  homelike  and  comfortable." 


CHAPTER    XII 

THE  LA  D  Y-IN-  CHIEF 

The  Barrack  Hospital — Overwhelming  Numbers  of  Sick  and 
Wounded — General  Disorder — Florence  Nightingale's  "  Com- 
manding Genius  " — The  Lady  with  the  Brain — The  Nurses' 
Tower — Influence  over  Men  in  Authority. 

A  perfect  woman,  nobly  planned, 
To  warn,  to  comfort  and  command  ; 
And  yet  a  spirit  still  and  bright, 
With  something  of  an  angel  light. 

Wordsworth. 

I^HE  official  position  which  the  Government 
.had  accorded  Miss  Nightingale  was  Super- 
intendent of  the  Nursing  Staff  in  the  East,  and  the 
title  by  which  she  eventually  became  known  was 
that  of  Lady-in-Chief. 

Her  control  extended  over  the  nursing  staffs  of 
all  the  hospitals,  some  eight  in  number,  in  which 
our  wounded  soldiers  were  placed  on  the  Bosphorus 
and  the  Levantine.  The  first  and  chief  scene  of 
Miss  Nightingale's  personal  ministrations,  however, 
was  the  great  Barrack  Hospital  at  Scutari,  lent  to 
the  British  Governme-nt  by  the  Turkish  authorities. 

123 


124      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

It  was  beautifully  situated  on  a  hill  overlooking  the 
glittering  v/aters  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  commanded 
a  view  of  the  fair  city  of  Constantinople,  with  its 
castellated  walls,  marble  palaces,  and  domes,  rising 
picturesquely  on  the  horizon.  No  more  enchant- 
ing prospect  could  have  been  desired  than  that  which 
met  the  Lady-in-Chief  when  she  reached  Scutari, 
the  *'  silver  city,"  held  in  such  veneration  by  the 
Turks.  The  town  seemed  placed  in  a  perfect 
Garden  of  Eden,  and  the  lovely  blue  of  the  Eastern 
sky  enhanced  the  beauty  of  the  scene. 

The  Barrack  Hospital  was  a  fine  handsome 
building,  forming  an  immense  quadrangle  with  a 
tower  at  each  corner.  An  idea  of  its  size  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  each  side  of  the 
quadrangle  was  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long. 
It  was  estimated  that  twelve  thousand  men  could 
be  exercised  in  the  central  court.  Galleries  and 
corridors,  rising  story  above  story,  surrounded 
three  sides  of  the  building,  and,  taken  continuously, 
were  four  miles  in  extent.  The  building  and 
position  were  alike  good,  but  the  interior  of  the 
hospital,  as  Miss  Nightingale  soon  discovered,  was 
a  scene  of  filth,  pestilence,  misery,  and  disorder 
impossible  to  describe.  On  either  side  the  endless 
corridors  the  wounded  men  lay  closely  packed 
together  without  the  commonest  decencies  or 
necessaries  of  life. 


THE  LADY'IN'CHIEF 


125 


After  being  disembarked  at  the  ferry  below  the 
hospital  from  the  vessels  which  brought  them  from 
the  battlefields  of  the  Crimea,  the  wounded  men 
either  walked  or  were  dragged  or  carried  up  the 
hill  to  the  hospital.  Surgical,  fever,  and  even  cholera 
cases  came  along  the  road  together  in  one  long 
stream  of  suffering  humanity. 


m 


i 


THE    BARRACK    HOSPITAL   AT   SCUTARI. 


Several  days  had  elapsed  since  the  men  left  the 
battlefield,  and  the  majority  had  not  had  their 
wounds  dressed  or  their  fractured  limbs  set.  The 
agony  and  misery  of  the  poor  fellows  in  this  un- 
tended  and  often  starving  state  can  be  well  imagined. 
And  how  their  hearts  sank  when  they  at  length 
reached  the  hospital,  where  at  least  they  expected 
food  and  comfort.     Alas  !  there  was  little  provision 


126      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

of  any  kind  for  the  sufferers.  Nolan,  in  his  history 
of  the  campaign,  says  that  in  these  early  months  of 
the  war  ''  there  were  no  vessels  for  water  or 
utensils  of  any  kind  ;  no  soap,  towels,  or  cloths, 
no  hospital  clothes  ;  the  men  lying  in  their  uniforms, 
stiff  with  gore  and  covered  with  filth  to  a  degree 
and  of  a  kind  no  one  could  write  about  ;  their 
persons  covered  with  vermin,  which  crawled  about 
the  floors  and  walls  of  the  dreadful  den  of  dirt, 
pestilence,  and  death  to  which  they  were  consigned. 

"  Medical  assistance  would  naturally  be  expected 
by  the  invalid  as  soon  as  he  found  himself  in  a 
place  of  shelter,  but  many  lay  waiting  for  their  turn 
until  death  anticipated  the  doctor.  The  medical  men 
toiled  with  unwearied  assiduity,  but  their  numbers 
were  inadequate  to  the  work."  Invalids  were  set  to 
take  care  of  invalids  and  the  dying  nursed  the  dying. 

It  was  a  heart-breaking  experience  for  the  Lady- 
in-Chief  when  she  made  her  first  round  of  the 
wards  at  Scutari.  The  beds  were  reeking  with 
infection  and  the  ''sheets,"  she  relates,  **  were  of 
canvas,  and  so  coarse  that  the  wounded  men 
begged  to  be  left  in  their  blankets.  It  was  indeed 
impossible  to  put  men  in  such  a  state  of  emaciation 
into  those  sheets.  There  was  no  bedroom  furniture 
of  any  kind,  and  only  empty  beer  or  wine  bottles 
for  candlesticks." 

In    addition    to    the    miseries    entailed    by    over- 


THE  LADY-IN-CHIEP  127 

crowding,  the  men  lying  on  the  floors  of  the 
corridors  were  tormented  by  vermin  and  their  limbs 
attacked  by  rats  as  they  lay  helpless  in  their  pain. 

The  immediate  surroundings  of  the  hospital  were 
a  hotbed  of  pestilence  ;  Miss  Nightingale  counted 
six  dogs  lying  under  the  windows  in  a  state  of  decom- 
position. Add  to  this  that  in  this  vast  caravanserai 
of  wounded,  sick,  and  dying  men  there  was  no 
proper  provision  for  v/ashing,  no  kitchens,  culinary 
conveniences,  or  cooks  suitable  for  hospital  needs, 
and  no  sanitation,  and  some  conception  may  be 
formed  of  the  Augean  stable  which  the  Lady-in- 
Chief  and  her  nurses  had  to  cleanse,  and  the  chaos 
out  of  which  order  was  to  be  brought. 

It  is  not  altogether  surprising  that  the  doctors 
and  hospital  authorities  did  not  immediately  welcome 
the  very  unique  band  of  sisters  who  had  come  to 
their  assistance.  These  already  overwrought  gentle- 
men were  disposed  to  think  that  the  ladies  would 
prove  a  greater  hindrance  than  help.  In  those  days 
it  was  regarded  as  unavoidable  that  a  soldier  should 
suffer,  and  humanitarian  attempts  to  lessen  the  suffer- 
ings were  considered  sentimental  and  effeminate. 

Possibly  some  of  the  younger  medical  men 
thought  that  the  rats  which  infested  the  hospital 
would  prove  the  needed  scare  to  the  newly  arrived 
nurses.  Of  course  it  was  held  that  the  most  strong- 
minded  women  would  fly  at  the  approach  of  a  mouse  : 


128      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

what  therefore  would  be  the  effect  of  a  rat  ?  But 
this  idea  was  dispelled  when  it  was  knov/n  that  the 
Lady-in-Chief  had  fearlessly  dislodged  a  rat  from 
above  the  bed  of  one  of  the  nurses  with  an  umbrella. 
The  sheds  where  the  sisters  sorted  the  stores  were 
over-run  with  the  pests.  "  Our  home  rats/'  said 
one  of  them,  *'  would  run  if  you  *  hushed '  them  ; 
but  you  might  '  hush '  away,  and  the  Scutari  rats 
would  not  take  the  least   notice." 

Only  twenty-four  hours  after  the  arrival  of  Miss 
Nightino^ale  at  Scutari  the  wounded  from  the  battle 
of  Inkerman  began  to  arrive  in  appalling  numbers, 
and  soon  every  inch  of  room  in  the  General  and 
in  the  Barrack  Hospitals  was  filled  with  sufferers. 
Many  of  the  men  had  indeed  no  other  resting-place 
than  the  muddy  gr6und  outside.  The  Lady-in- 
Chief  had  had  no  time  to  initiate  reform,  collect 
stores,  or  get  any  plans  for  the  relief  of  the  patients 
into  working  order  before  this  fearful  avalanche 
of  wounded  soldiery  came  upon  her. 

It  was  the  testing  moment  of  her  life.  Had 
Florence  Nightingale  failed  at  this  crisis  in  personal 
endurance,  or  in  power  to  inspire  her  subordinates 
with  a  like  courage,  her  mission  would  have  sunk 
into  a  benevolent  futility.  She  and  her  nurses  might 
have  run  hither  and  thither  smoothing  pillows, 
administering  gruel,  and  doing  other  kind  and 
womanly  service,  but  grateful  as  that  would  be  to 


THE   LADY-IN-CHIEF  129 

the  poor  fellows  in  their  extreme  misery,  it  v/ould 
not  have  remedied  the  root  of  the  evil.  The  Lady- 
in-Chief  had  to  look  beyond  the  present  moment, 
though  not  neglectful  of  its  demands,  to  the  more 
important  future,  and  institute  a  system  of  nursing 
reform  which  should  make  such  scenes  as  she  now 
witnessed  impossible.  It  was  her  ability  to  do  this 
which  lifted  Florence  Nightingale  into  such  a 
supreme  position. 

The  attention  and  praises  bestowed  on  her  during 
the  Crimean  period  roused  a  little  jealousy  and  re- 
sentment in  some  quarters.  Other  women  engaged 
in  nursing  the  sick  soldiers  possibly  thought  that 
they  had  made  equal  personal  sacrifices  with  Miss 
Nightingale — some  indeed  gave  their  life  in  the 
cause.  Others  again,  returning  to  a  life  of  seclusion 
after  toiling  through  the  arduous  nursing  of  the 
campaign,  might  perhaps  have  felt  some  injustice 
that  one  name  alone  rang  through  the  land,  while 
others  who  also  had  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of 
the  day  remained  unhonoured  and  unsung.  No 
one  would  wish  to  exempt  from  due  praise  even 
the  humblest  of  that  ''  Angel  Band  "  who  worked 
with  Florence  Nightingale  and  still  less  would  she, 
but  in  every  great  cause  there  is  the  initiating 
genius  who  stands  in  solitary  grandeur  above  the 
rank  and  file  of  followers. 

Sush     was    the     Lady- in-Chief :     she    came    to 

9 


I30      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Scutari  as  something  far  more  even  than  an  efficient 
nurse.  She  brought  the  organising  and  governing 
faculty  and  the  brain  power  of  which  the  officials 
in  charge  seemed  bereft.  Delicate,  high-bred,  and 
retiring  in  nature  as  Miss  Nightingale  was,  she 
possessed  the  subtle  quality  which  gave  her  command 
over  others,  that  undefinable  something  which  broke 
down  the  opposition  of  the  most  conservative  obstruc- 
tionist when  he  came  under  her  personal  influence. 
She  was  unfettered  by  precedent  or  red  tape,  and 
brought  to  her  task  a  clear  idea  of  the  administrative 
mechanism  which  was  needed  to  afford  due  care 
and  provision  for  the  prostrate  soldiery. 

Her  woman's  nature  was  roused  to  indignation 
at  the  sight  of  suffering  which  she  could  only 
regard  as  the  result  of  unbending  and  unthinking 
routine,  and  she  brought  her  quick  intuitions  and 
agile  brain  to  remedy  the  evil.  When  men  were 
dying  daily  by  the  score  for  the  want  of  suitable 
nourishment,  she  declined  to  listen  to  under  officials 
who  feared  to  disobey  regulations  by  opening  stores 
without  the  usual  order,  and  took  the  responsibility 
of  having  the  packages  undone.  The  Lady-in-Chief 
was  herself  a  strict  disciplinarian,  or  she  would  never 
have  brought  order  out  of  chaos,  but  she  had 
humanity  enough  to  know  when  the  iron  rule 
might  be  relaxed  in  the  interests  of  those  under 
her  care.     Her  common  sense,  her  spirit  of  unselfish 


THE  LADY-IN-CHIEF  131 

devotion,  and  her  strong,  though  gentle,  persuasive- 
ness gradually  overcame  the  predjudice  of  the 
constituted  authorities  against  the  new  element 
introduced  into  hospital  work. 

Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  in  his  letter  to  the  Principal 
Medical  Officer  at  Scutari  (Dr.  Menzies)  announcing 
the  coming  of  the  nurses,  had  enjoined  him  "to 
receive  with  attention  and  deference  the  counsels 
of  the  Lady-in-Chief."  Great  as  was  the  power 
which  the  unflinching  support  of  this  distinguished 
man  gave  her,  it  was  secondary  to  the  influence 
which  she  attained  by  the  force  of  her  own  character. 
The  late  Dean  Stanley,  who  was  not  a  man  to 
misuse  the  English  language,  described  Miss  Nightin- 
gale's faculty  as  "  commanding  genius." 

We  read  in  the  thrilHng  accounts  of  the  period 
how  the  Lady-in-Chief  went  her  rounds  at  night, 
passing  along  the  endless  corridors  and  through 
the  hospital  wards  carrying  a  little  lamp,  the  gleam 
of  which  lighted  her  progress  of  mercy  and  love. 
Dying  men  turned  on  their  pillows  to  bless  her 
shadow  as  it  passed.  In  far-away  New  England 
the  idea  of  "  The  Lady  with  the  Lamp  "  inspired 
the  muse  of  Longfellow  : — 

A  Lady  with  a  Lamp  shall  stand 
In  the  great  history  of  the  land, 

A  noble  type  of  good 

Heroic  womanhood; 


132       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

and  it  has  remained  the  most  beautiful  and  popular 
title  bestowed  upon  Florence  Nightingale,  but  at 
the  risk  of  appearing  modern  and  prosaic  we 
venture  to  re-christen  our  heroine  '^  The  Lady  with 
the  Brain." 

When  Miss  Nightingale  began  her  work,  her 
energies  were  concentrated  on  the  Barrack  Hospital 
already  described,  and  on  the  General  Hospital  at 
Scutari,  which  was  a  little  farther  removed.  The 
other  British  hospitals  in  the  East  also  came  under 
her  supervision,  but  Scutari  claimed  at  first  her 
undivided  personal  attention.  Attached  to  her  staff 
v/ere  the  thirty-eight  trained  nurses  who  had 
accompanied  her,  the  Rev.  Sidney  Osborne,  the 
chaplain,  and  her  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bracebridge 
of  Atherstane  Hall.  Mrs.  Bracebridge  was  to  act  as 
overseer  of  the  housekeeping  department.  A  most 
valuable  helper  also  was  Mr.  Stafford,  a  young  man 
of  family  who  had  left  the  drawing-rooms  of  Mayfair 
to  go  to  Scutari  and  "  fag  "  for  the  Lady-in-Chief. 
He  wrote  letters,  went  on  missions  of  inquiry,  and 
did  anything  and  everything  which  a  handy  and 
gallant  gentleman  could  do  to  make  himself  useful 
to  a  lady  whom  he  felt  honoured  to  serve. 

Taken  collectively,  this  little  group  may  be  termed 
the  "  party  of  reform "  who  were  installed  at 
Scutari  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  1854. 
Lady  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  the  wife  of  our  Ambas- 


THE   LADY-IN^CHIEF 


133 


sador  at  Constantinople,  and  her  ''  beauteous  guest/* 
Lady  George  Paget,  were  also  most  helpful  in 
sending  little  comforts  for  the  wounded  officers,  but 
it  was  said  of  Miss  Nightingale  that  she  ''  thought 


THE    LADY-IN -CHIEF   IN    HER   QUARTERS   AT   THE   BARRACK ,  HOSPITAL. 

only    of    the    men."       The  common    soldier    was 
undoubtedly  her  chief  concern. 

The  Lady-in-Chief  and  her  staff  had  their 
quarters  in  a  tower  at  one  of  the  corners  of  the 
hospital,  and  the  busy  life  which  went  on  there  from 


134      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

day  to  day  is  thus  described  by  the  Rev.  Sidney 
Osborne.  "  Entering  the  door  leading  into  the 
Sisters'  Tower,"  he  writes,  "  you  at  once  find  your- 
self a  spectator  of  a  busy  and  interesting  scene. 
There  is  a  large  room  with  two  or  three  doors 
opening  from  it  on  one  side  ;  on  the  other,  one 
door  opening  into  an  apartment  in  which  many  of 
the  nurses  and  sisters  slept,  and  had,  I  believe,  their 
meals.  In  the  centre  was  a  large  kitchen  table  : 
bustling  about  this  might  be  seen  the  high-priestess 

of  the  room,  Mrs.  C .     Often   as   I  have  had 

occasion  to  pass  through  this  room  I  do  not 
recollect  ever  finding  her  absent  from  it  or  unoc- 
cupied. At  this  table  she  received  the  various 
matters  from  the  kitchen  and  stores  of  the  sisterhood, 
which  attendant  sisters  or  nurses  were  ever  ready 
to  take  to  the  sick  in  any  and  every  part  of  these 
gigantic  hospitals.  It  was  a  curious  scene,  and  a 
close  study  of  it  afforded  a  practical  lesson  in  the 
working  of  true  common-sense  benevolence. 

"  The  floor  on  one  side  of  the  room  was  loaded 
with  packages  of  all  kinds — stores  of  things  for  the 
internal  and  external  consumption  of  the  patients  ; 
bales  of  shirts,  socks,  slippers,  dressing-gowns, 
flannel,  heaps  of  every  sort  of  article  likely  to  be 
of  use  in  affording  comfort  and  securing  cleanliness. 
.  .  .  It  was  one  feature  of  a  bold  attempt  upon 
the  part    of  extraneous  benevolence    to  supply  the 


THE  LADY-IN-CHIEF  135 

deficiencies  of  the  various  departments  which  as 
a  matter  of  course  should  have  supplied  all  these 
things. 

"  In  an  adjoining  room  were  held  those  councils 
over  which  Miss  Nightingale  so  ably  presided,  at 
which  were  discussed  the  measures  necessary  to 
meet  the  daily-varying  exigencies  of  the  hospital. 
From  hence  were  given  the  orders  which  regulated 
the  female  staff  working  under  this  most  gifted 
head.  This,  too,  was  the  office  from  which  were 
sent  those  many  letters  to  the  Government,  to  friends 
and  supporters  at  home,  telling  such  awful  tales  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  their  utter 
want  of  so  many  necessaries." 

We  have  in  this  description  a  glimpse  into  the 
beginning  of  the  Lady-in-Chief's  organising  work. 
In  the  sisters*  quarters  she  was  from  the  first 
undisputed  head,  and  by  degrees  the  order  and 
method  which  she  established  there  affected  every 
other  part  of  the  hospital. 

While  she  was  battling  with  red-tapism  in  order 
to  get  access  to  stores  which  lay  unpacked  in  the 
vicinity  of  a  hospital  filled  with  poorly  fed,  badly 
clothed,  and  suffering  men  because  nobody  seemed 
to  know  who  had  the  right  to  dispense  them, 
sympathetic  friends  were  keeping  the  store  in  the 
Sisters'  Tower  replenished.  But  it  was  impossible 
to  keep  pace  with  the  needs.     The  published  letters 


136      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

sent  home  by  the  nursing  staff  at  this  period  all 
contain  requests  for  invahd  requisites  and  clothing. 
The  wounded  were  dying  in  scores  for  want  of 
a  little  stimulant  to  rouse  their  exhausted  systems 
when  they  first  arrived  at  the  hospitals,  and  men 
lying  in  clothing  stiff  with  gore  could  not  even 
procure  a  change  of  garment.  As  the  cold  increased, 
the  frost-bitten  patients,  arriving  from  the  trenches 
before  Sebastopol,  had  not  even  the  luxury  of  a 
warm  shirt.  One  of  the  nurses  writing  home  said  : 
"  Whenever  a  man  opens  his  mouth  with  '  Please, 
ma'am,  I  want  to  speak  to  you,'  my  heart  sinks 
within  me,  for  I  feel  sure  it  will  end  in  flannel 
shirts." 

The  task  of  the  Lady-in-Chief  was  to  bring 
benevolent  as  well  as  neglectful  chaos  into  order. 
She  had  to  inquire  into  the  things  most  urgently 
needed  and  advise  her  friends  in  England.  All 
this  was  unexpected  work,  for  it  will  be  remembered 
that  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert,  in  the  letter  inviting 
Miss  Nightingale  to  go  to  Scutari,  had  dwelt  on 
the  fact,  as  he  believed  it,  that  the  hospitals  were 
supplied  with  every  necessary,  ^^  Medical  stores," 
he  had  said,  '*  had  been  sent  out  by  the  ton  v/eight." 

Alas  !  through  mismanagement,  these  stores  had 
been  rotting  on  the  shore  at  Varna,  instead  of 
reaching  Scutari,  and  much  that  had  arrived  was 
packed  beneath    heavy  ammunition  and  difficult  to 


THE  LADY-IN-CHIEF  137 

get  at.  The  loss  of  the  Frince^  laden  with  supplies, 
was  a  culminating  disaster  which  occurred  on 
November  14th,  about  two  weeks  after  Miss 
Nightingale's  arrival. 

The  reticence  of  the  hospital  authorities  pre- 
vented the  true  state  of  affairs  from  reaching  the 
British  public.  Indeed,  the  whole  Service,  from 
commandant  to  orderly,  conspired  to  say  "All  right," 
when  all  was  wrong.  One  of  the  sisters  has  described 
how  this  policy  worked  in  the  wards.  An  orderly 
officer  took  the  rounds  of  the  wards  every  night, 
to  see  that  all  was  in  order.  He  was  of  course 
expected  by  the  orderlies,  and  the  moment  he  raised 
the  latch  he  received  the  word,  "  All  right,  your 
honour,"  and  passed  on.  This  was  hospital  in- 
spection ! 

In  excuse  for  the  officers  who  were  thus  easily 
put  off,  it  may  be  said  that  the  wards  were  filled 
with  pestilence,  and  the  air  so  polluted  by  cholera 
and  fever  patients  that  it  seemed  courting  death 
to  enter. 

For  that  reason  orderlies  already  on  the  sick  list 
were  set  to  act  as  nurses,  and  they  often  drank 
the  brandy  which  it  was  their  duty  to  administer 
to  the  patients,  in  order  to  keep  up  their  spirits, 
or  ''drown  their  grief,"  as  they  preferred  to  put 
it.  Men  in  this  condition  became  very  callous. 
Those   stricken    with    cholera  had    their   sufferings 


138      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

terribly  enhanced  by  the  dread  of  being  buried 
alive,  and  used  to  beseech  the  orderlies  not  to 
send  them  to  the  dead-house  until  quite  sure  that 
they  had  breathed  their  last.  Utter  collapse  was 
the  last  stage  of  Asiatic  cholera,  and  the  orderlies 
took  little  pains  to  ascertain  when  the  exact 
moment  of  dissolution  came  ;  consequently  numbers 
of  still  living  men  were  hurried  to  the  dead- 
house.  One  does  not  wish  to  hold  up  to  blame 
and  execration  the  seeming  inhumanity  of  the 
orderlies.  They  were  set  to  do  work  for  which 
they  v/ere  untrained  and  often  physically  unfit, 
and  were  also  demoralised  by  the  shocking  condi- 
tion of  the  wards.  It  was  the  system  rather  than 
individuals  which  was  to  blame. 

Into  these  insanitary,  filthy,  and  pestilential  wards 
came  the  Lady-in-Chief,  and  she  did  not  say  "  All 
right."  It  was  useless  for  officialdom  to  "  pooh- 
pooh  "  :  she,  fortunately,  had  Government  authority. 
What  her  quick  eye  saw  was  communicated  to  the 
Commander-in-Chief,  Lord  Raglan,  and  to  Mr. 
Sidney  Herbert  at  the  War  Office,  and  brought  in 
due  course  the  needed  instructions  for  reform. 

Not  the  least  quality  of  the  Lady-in-Chief  was 
her  influence  over  men  in  authority.  She  was  not 
dictatorial,  she  was  not  aggressive,  but  she  possessed 
the  judgment  which  inspired  confidence  and  the 
knowledge    which     compelled    respectful    attention. 


THE  LADY-IN-CHIEF  139 

Her  letters  to  the  War  Minister  at  home,  and  to 
Lord  Raglan,  the  General  in  the  field,  were  models 
of  clear  and  concise  documents,  devoid  of  grumbling, 
rancour,  or  fidgety  complaints,  but  they  contained 
some  appalling  facts.  Unerringly  she  laid  her  finger 
on  the  loose  joints  of  the  commissariat  and  hospital 
administration.  By  the  enlightening  aid  of  her 
letters  from  Scutari  the  Home  Government  was 
enabled  to  pierce  the  haze  which  surrounded  the 
official  accounts  from  the  Bosphorus,  and  gradually 
the  hospital  management  was  put  on  a  footing 
which  harmonised  with  the  Lady-in-Chief's  recom- 
mendations. 

Lord  William  Paulet,  who  succeeded  Major  Sillery 
as  Military  Commandant  at  Scutari  shortly  after 
Miss  Nightingale's  arrival,  soon  learned  to  place 
entire  confidence  in  her  judgment.  "  You  will  find 
her  most  valuable,  .  .  .  her  counsels  are  admirable 
suggestions,"  wrote  the  War  Minister  to  the  new 
Commandant  and  Lord  William  proved  the  truth  of 
the  statement.  Lord  Raglan  in  one  of  his  dispatches 
to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  said,  "  Lord  William 
[Paulet]  like  Brown  [Sir  George  Brown]  speaks 
loudly  in  praise  of  Miss  Nightingale,"  adding  that 
he  was  confident  that  she  had  "  done  great  good." 
As  the  weeks  passed  by,  Lord  Raglan  grew  to 
consider  the  Lady-in-Chief  a  most  efficient  auxiliary 
"  general." 


CHAPTER    XIII 

AT  V^ORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL 

An  Appalling  Task — Stories  of  Florence  Nightingale's  interest  in 
the  Soldiers — Lack  of  Necessaries  for  the  Wounded — Estab- 
lishes an  Invalids'  Kitchen  and  a  Laundry — Cares  for  the 
Soldiers'  Wives — Religious  Fanatics — Letter  from  Queen 
Victoria — Christmas  at  Scutari. 

Neglected,  dying  in  despair, 

They  lay  till  woman  came. 
To  soothe  them  w^ith  her  gentle  care, 

And  feed  life's  flickering  flame. 
When  wounded  sore,  on  fever's  rack, 

Or  cast  away  as  slain, 
She  called  their  fluttering  spirits  back, 

And  gave  them  strength  again. 

Francis  Bennoch. 

THE  events  of  the  war  in  the  autumn  of  1854 
will  convey  some  idea  of  the  number  of 
wounded  men  crowded  into  the  hospitals  on  the 
Bosphorus  when  Florence  Nightingale  entered 
upon  her  duties  at  Scutari.  Balaclava  was  fought  on 
October  25th,  four  days  after  she  left  London  ;  the 
battle  of  Inkerman  followed  on  November  5th,  the 
day  after  she  landed.  Before  the  average  woman 
would  have  found  time  to  unpack  her  boxes,  Miss 

140 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     141 

Nightingale  was  face  to  face  with  a  task  unparalleled 
in  its  magnitude  and  appalling  in  its  nature. 

The  wounded  arrived  by  the  shipload  until  every 
ward,  both  in  the  General  and  in  the  Barrack 
Hospital,  was  crowded  to  excess,  and  the  men  lay  in 
double  rows  down  the  long  corridors,  forming  several 
miles  of  suffering  humanity.  During  these  terrible 
days  Florence  Nightingale  was  known  to  stand  for 
twenty  hours  at  a  time,  on  the  arrivals  of  fresh  detach- 
ments of  sick,  apportioning  quarters,  directing  her 
nurses  and  attending  at  the  most  painful  operations 
where  her  presence  might  soothe  and  support.  She 
would  spend  hours  over  men  dying  of  cholera  or  fever. 
"  Indeed,"  wrote  one  who  watched  her  work,  "  the 
more  awful  to  every  sense  any  particular  case  might 
be,  the  more  certainly  might  be  seen  her  slight  form 
bending  over  him,  administering  to  his  ease  by 
every  means  in  her  power  and  seldom  quitting  his 
side  until  death  released  him." 

Her  womanly  heart  prompted  her  to  acts  of 
humanity  which  at  once  made  her  recognised  by  the 
men  as  the  soldier's  friend.  When  the  wounded 
were  brought  by  hundreds  to  Scutari  after  Inkerman, 
the  first  duty  of  the  surgeons  was  to  separate  the 
hopeful  cases  from  the  desperate.  On  one  occasion 
Miss  Nightingale  saw  five  soldiers  set  aside  in  a 
hopeless  condition.  She  inquired  if  nothing  could 
be    done    for    the    poor   fellows,   and    the  surgeons 


142       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NLGHTINGALE 

replied  that  their   first   duty   was  with  those  whom 
there  seemed  to  be  more  hope  of  saving. 

"  Will  you  give  me  these  five  men  ? "  said  the 
Lady-in-Chief. 

"  Do  as  you  like  with  them,"  replied  the  surgeons  ; 
*'we  think  their  case  is  hopeless." 

If  life  could  be  saved,  Florence  Nightingale  was 
determined  to  save  it,  and  throughout  the  night, 
assisted  by  one  of  the  nurses,  she  sat  beside  the 
men,  feeding  them  with  a  spoon  until  their  senses 
awakened  and  their  strength  began  to  return.  She 
washed  their  wounds,  cheered  their  hearts  with  kind 
words,  and  in  the  morning  had  the  satisfaction  of 
finding  that  they  were  in  a  fit  condition  to  be 
operated  on. 

At  another  time  a  Highland  soldier  was  about 
to  undergo  an  amputation.  Miss  Nightingale  asked 
that  the  operation  might  be  delayed,  as  she  thought 
that  careful  nursing  might  render  it  unnecessary. 
Through  her  unremitting  care  the  man's  arm  was 
saved  ;  and  when  asked  v/hat  he  felt  towards  his 
preserver,  he  said  that  the  only  mode  he  had  of 
giving  vent  to  his  feelings  was  to  kiss  her  shadow 
when  it  fell  on  his  pillow  as  she  passed  through 
the  wards  on  her  nightly  rounds. 

When  cholera  and  plague  cases  came  in,  foaming 
at  the  mouth  and  black  in  the  face,  none  were  too 
bad  for  Florence    Nightingale's  patient  care.     Her 


AT   WORK  IJV  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     143 

influence  over  the  men  was  established  from  the 
first.  She  was  their  "  good  angel,"  and  their  con- 
fidence in  her  was  unbounded. 

Still,  her  task  was  a  heavy  one  in  these  first  days. 
There  was  official  prejudice  to  overcome,  and  an 
overwhelming  number  of  patients  to  deal  with  in  a 
huge  building  devoid  of  the  commonest  hospital  ac- 
cessories and  arrangements.  The  Barrack  "  Hospital," 
so  called,  had  been  designed  only  for  soldiers* 
barracks,  so  that  when  suddenly  converted  into  a 
hospital  it  lacked  almost  everything  necessary  for 
the  sick,  and  the  supplies  forwarded  from  England 
had  by  a  series  of  misadventures  been  delayed.  A 
letter  sent  home  by  one  of  the  nurses  six  days  after 
the  arrival  of  Miss  Nightingale  and  her  band  may 
be  quoted  as  giving  a  graphic  picture  of  the  state 
of  affairs  at  this  time.     She  writes  : — 

"  I  have  come  out  here  as  one  of  the  Govern- 
ment nurses,  and  the  position  in  which  we  are 
placed  induces  me  to  write  and  ask  you,  at  once, 
to  send  out  a  fev/  dozens  of  wine,  or  in  short 
anything  which  may  be  useful  for  the  wounded 
or  dying,  hundreds  of  whom  are  now  around  us, 
under  this  roof,  filling  up  even  the  passages  to  the 
very  rooms  we  occupy.  Government  is  liberal, 
and  for  one  moment  I  would  not  complain 
of  their  desire  to  meet  all  our  wants,  but  with 
such   a    number   of  the  wounded    coming    in  from 


144       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Sebastopol,  it  does  appear  absolutely  impossible  to 
meet  the  wants  of  those  who  are  dying  of  dysentery 
and  exhaustion  ;  out  of  four  wards  committed  to 
my  care,  eleven  men  have  died  in  the  night, 
simply  from  exhaustion,  which,  humanly  speaking, 
might  have  been  stopped,  could  I  have  laid  my 
hand  at  once  on  such  nourishment  as  I  knew  they 
ought  to  have  had. 

"  It  is  necessary  to  be  as  near  the  scene  of 
war  as  we  are,  to  know  the  horrors  which  we  have 
seen  and  heard  of.  I  know  not  which  sight  is  most 
heartrending — to  witness  fine  strong  men  and 
youths  worn  down  by  exhaustion  and  sinking  under 
it,  or  others  coming  in  fearfully  wounded. 

*'The  whole  of  yesterday  was  spent,  first  In 
sewing  the  men's  mattresses  together,  and  then 
in  washing  them,  and  assisting  the  surgeons,  when 
we  could,  in  dressing  their  ghastly  wounds,  and 
seeing  the  poor  fellows  made  as  easy  as  their 
circumstances  would  admit  of,  after  their  five  days' 
confinement  on  board  ship,  during  which  space 
their  v/ounds  v/ere  not  dressed. 

"  Miss  Nightingale,  under  whom  we  work,  is 
well  fitted  in  every  way  to  fill  her  arduous  post, 
the  whole  object  of  her  life  having  hitherto  been 
the  superintendence  of  hospitals  abroad.  Wine  and 
bottles  of  chicken  broth,  preserved  meat  for  soups, 
etc.,  will  be  most  acceptable. 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     145 

"  We  have  not  seen  a  drop  of  milk,  and  the 
bread  is  extremely  sour.  The  butter  is  most 
filthy — it  is  Irish  butter  in  a  state  of  decomposition  ; 
and  the  meat  is  more  like  moist  leather  than  food. 
Potatoes  we  are  waiting  for  until  they  arrive  from 
France." 

Nursing  in  a  hospital  which  received  soldiers 
straight  from  the  battlefield,  their  wounds  aggra- 
vated by  days  of  neglect,  was  a  difficult  task  under 
the  most  favourable  circumstances,  but  when  in- 
tensified by  the  lack  even  of  proper  food,  such 
as  the  above  letter  discloses,  the  task  was  indeed 
formidable. 

There  was  an  organising  brain,  however,  at  work 
in  that  dreadful  Barrack  Hospital  now,  and  within 
ten  days  of  her  arrival,  in  spite  of  the  terrible  influx 
of  patients  which  taxed  her  powers  to  the  utmost. 
Miss  Nightingale  had  fitted  up  an  impromptu 
kitchen,  from  which  eight  hundred  men  were  daily 
supplied  with  well-cooked  food  and  other  comforts. 
It  was  largely  suppHed  with  the  invalid  food  from 
the  private  stores  of  the  Lady-in-Chief,  which  fortu- 
nately she  had  brought  out  with  her  in  the  Vectis, 
Beef-tea,  chicken  broth,  jelly,  and  little  dehcacies 
unheard  of  before  were  now  administered  to  the  sick 
by  the  gentle  hands  of  women  nurses.  Small  wonder 
that  the  poor  fellows  could  often  only  express  their 
gratitude  in  voices  half-choked  with  sobs  ! 

10 


146       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

One  Crimean  veteran  told  the  writer  that  when 
he  received  a  basin  of  arrov/root  on  his  first  arrival 
at  the  hospital  early  in  the  morning,  he  said  to 
himself,  "  Tom.my,  me  boy,  that's  all  you'll  get  into 
your  inside  this  blessed  day,  and  think  yourself 
lucky  you've  got  that.  But  two  hours  later,  if 
another  of  them  blessed  angels  didn't  come  en- 
treating of  me  to  have  just  a  little  chicken  broth  ! 
Well,  I  took  that,  thinking  maybe  it  was  early 
dinner,  and  before  I  had  well  done  wondering  what 
would  happen  next,  round  the  nurse  came  again 
with  a  bit  o'  jelly,  and  all  day  long  at  intervals 
they  kept  on  bringing  me  what  they  called  '  a  little 
nourishment.'  In  the  evening.  Miss  Nightingale 
she  came  and  had  a  look  at  me,  and  says  she,  '  I 
hope  you're  feeling  better.'  I  could  have  said, 
'  Ma'am,  I  feels  as  fit  as  a  fightin'  cock,'  but  I 
managed  to  git  out  somethin'  a  bit  more  polite." 

Hitherto,  not  only  had  there  been  a  lack  of  food, 
but  the  cooking  had  been  done  by  the  soldiers 
themselves  in  the  most  free  and  easy  manner. 
Meat  and  vegetables  were  boiled  together  in  the 
huge  coppers,  of  which  there  were  thirteen  in  the 
kitchen  attached  to  the  barracks.  Separate  portions 
were  enclosed  in  nets,  and  all  plunged  together  into 
the  seething  coppers,  and  taken  up  when  occasion 
demanded.  Some  things  were  served  up  done  to 
rags,  while  others  were  almost  raw.     This  kind  of 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     147 

cooking  was  bad  enough  foremen  in  ordinary  health, 
but  for  the  sick  it  meant  death. 

The  daily  comforts  which  the  nurses'  kitchen 
afforded  received  ample  testimony  from  the 
witnesses  before  Mr.  Roebuck's  Commission  for  in- 
quiry into  the  conduct  of  the  war.  In  one  day 
sometimes  thirteen  gallons  of  chicken  broth  and 
forty  gallons  of  arrowroot  were  distributed  amongst 
the  sick.  At  first  nearly  all  the  invalid  food  had 
to  comxC  from  the  private  stores  brought  out  by 
the  Lady-in-Chief,  which  the  charitable  at  home  re- 
plenished as  the  true  state  of  affairs  became  known, 
for  not  only  was  there  a  deficiency  in  the  Govern- 
ment stores,  but  the  things  supplied  officially  were 
often  not  fit  for  food.  It  was  the  general  testimony 
of  witnesses  before  the  Commission  that  Miss 
Nightingale's  services  were  invaluable  in  the  hospital 
as  well  for  what  she  did  herself  as  for  the  manner 
in  which  she  kept  the  purveyors  to  their  duties. 

The  method  of  distributing  the  Government 
stores  was  as  erratic  as  the  cooking.  There  appeared 
to  be  no  regulations  as  to  time.  Things  asked  for 
in  a  morning  were  probably  not  forthcoming  until 
evening,  when  the  cooking  fires  in  the  barracks 
kitchen  were  all  but  out.  Nothing  could  be  obtained 
until  various  ''  service  rules  "  had  been  observed. 
An  official  board  must  inspect  and  approve  all  stores 
before  they  could    be   distributed.     One  can  think 


148       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

of  nothing  more  exasperating  to  the  Lady-in-Chief, 
in  her  responsible  duty  towards  the  sick,  than  to 
see  exhausted  men  dying  for  want  of  the  proper 
nourishment  because  the  board  of  inspection  had 
not  completed  its  arrangements.  On  one  recorded 
occasion  she  took  the  law  into  her  own  hands, 
and  insisted  that  the  stores  should  be  given  out, 
inspected  or  not.  She  could  not  ask  under-officials 
to  incur  the  penalty  of  martial  law  by  fulfilling  her 
behests,  but  she  could  brave  the  authorities  herself 
and  did  so.  The  storehouse  was  opened  on  the 
responsibility  of  the  Lady-in-Chief,  and  the  goods 
procured  for  the  languishing  soldiery. 

Miss  Nightingale's  defiance  of  red-tape  made 
her  some  enemies,  and  the  ''  groove-going  men,"  as 
Kinglake  calls  them,  ^'  uttered  touching  complaints, 
declaring  that  the  Lady-in-Chief  did  not  choose 
to  give  them  time,  and  that  the  moment  a  want 
declared  itself,  she  made  haste  to  supply  it  herself." 

"  This  charge,"  says  the  same  authority  in  an 
appendix  note,  "  was  so  utterly  without  foundation 
as  to  be  the  opposite  of  truth.  The  Lady-in-Chief 
used  neither  to  issue  her  stores,  nor  allow  any  others 
to  do  so,  until  the  want  of  them  had  been  evidenced 
by  a  duly  signed  requisition.  Proof  of  this  is 
complete,  and  has  been  furnished  even  by  adversaries 
of  the  Lady-in-Chief." 

After    her    improvised    kitchen    was    in    working 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     149 

order,  Miss  Nightingale  next  set  to  work  to 
establish  a  laundry  for  the  hospital  and  institute  a 
system  for  disinfecting  the  clothes  of  fever  and 
cholera  patients.  Up  to  the  time  of  her  arrival 
there  was  practically  little  washing  done,  the 
"  authorities "  had  only  succeeded  in  getting  seven 
shirts  washed,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  separate 
the  bed-linen  and  garments  of  infectious  patients 
from  those  suffering  only  from  wounds.  Washing 
contracts  were  in  existence,  but  availed  little.  At 
the  General  Hospital  the  work  was  in  the  hands  of 
a  corps  of  eight  or  ten  Armenians.  There  was  no 
fault  to  be  found  with  the  manner  in  which  they 
did  the  work,  only  they  stole  so  habitually  that 
when  a  man  sent  his  shirt  to  be  washed  he  was 
never  sure  that  he  would  get  it  back  again,  and 
in  consequence  the  sick  were  unwilling  to  part 
with  their  garments. 

At  the  Barrack  Hospital  a  Levantine  named 
Uptoni  had  the  washing  contract,  but  broke  it 
so  repeatedly  that  the  sick  were  practically  without 
clean  linen,  except  when  they  were  able  to  get 
the  soldiers'  wives  to  do  a  little  washing  for  them. 
Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  a  hospital  where  two 
to  three  thousand  men  lay  wounded  and  sick. 

Miss  Nightingale  hired  a  house  close  to  the 
hospital  and  set  up  an  efficient  laundry,  partly  out 
of   her   private    funds,    and    partly    out    of    money 


I50       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

subscribed  to  l!he  Tirnes  fund  started  for  the  relief 
of  the  soldiery.  She  had  it  fitted  up  with  coppers 
and  regulated  under  sanitary  conditions,  and  there 
five  hundred  shirts  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  other 
articles  were  washed  each  week. 

There  was  a  further  difficulty  to  meet,  and  that 
was  to  provide  the  men  with  a  change  of  linen 
while  the  soiled  went  to  the  wash.  Many  of  the 
wounded  had  been  obliged  to  leave  their  knapsacks 
behind  and  had  no  clothing  save  the  dirty  and 
dilapidated  garments  in  which  they  arrived.  In  the 
course  of  the  first  three  months  Miss  Nightingale 
provided  the  men  with  ten  thousand  shirts  from 
her  own  private  sources. 

There  was  the  same  scarcity  in  surgical  dressings, 
and  the  nurses  had  to  employ  every  minute  that 
could  be  spared  from  the  bedside  of  the  sufferers 
in  making  lint,  bandages,  amputation  stumps,  and 
in  sewing  mattresses  and  making  pillows. 

Great  confusion  existed  with  regard  to  the  dis- 
pensing of  drugs.  The  apothecaries'  store  at 
Scutari,  which  supplied  the  hospitals  and  indeed  the 
whole  army  in  the  Crimea,  was  in  the  same  state 
of  confusion  as  everything  else.  The  orderlies 
left  to  dispense  often  did  not  know  what  the  store 
contained.  On  one  occasion  Mrs.  Bracebridge, 
Miss  Nightingale's  invaluable  friend  and  helper, 
applied  three  times  for  chloride  of  lime  and  was  told 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     151 

there  was  none.  Miss  Nightingale  insisted  on  a 
more  thorough  search  being  made,  with  the  result 
that  90  lbs.  were  discovered. 

The  defective  system  of  orderlies  was  another 
evil  which  the  Lady-in-Chief  had  to  contend  with. 
These  men  had  been  taken  from  the  ranks,  most  of 
them  were  convalescents,  and  they  did  not  trouble 
to  understand  the  duties  of  an  orderly  because  they 
were  liable  to  return  and  serve  in  the  ranks. 
The  advent  of  the  ladies  had  an  excellent  effect 
upon  the  orderlies  in  arousing  their  sense  of  chivalry, 
and  they  soon  grew  to  think  it  an  honour  to  serve 
the  Lady-in-Chief  During  all  that  dreadful  period, 
when  she  had  to  tax  the  patience  and  devotion 
of  the  orderlies  and  other  soldiers  attending  in  the 
wards  to  the  utmost,  not  one  of  them  failed  her 
"  in  obedience,  thoughtful  attention,  and  considerate 
delicacy."  For  her  they  toiled  and  endured  a  strain 
and  stress  of  work  which  mere  officialdom  would  have 
failed  to  obtain.  Yet  "  never,"  Miss  Nightingale 
says,  "  came  from  any  one  of  them  one  word  nor 
one  look  which  a  gentleman  would  not  have  used  ; 
and  while  paying  this  humble  tribute  to  humble 
courtesy,  the  tears  come  into  my  eyes  as  I  think 
how  amidst  scenes  of  loathsome  disease  and  death 
there  arose  above  it  all  the  innate  dignity,  gentleness, 
and  chivalry  of  the  men  (for  never  surely  was 
chivalry  so    strikingly  exemplified),  shining  in    the 


152       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTLNGALE 

midst  of  what  must  be  considered  as  the  lowest 
sinks  of  human  misery,  and  preventing  instinctively 
the  use  of  one  expression  which  could  distress  a 
gentlewoman." 

If  such  was  the  chivalrous  devotion  yielded  by 
the  orderlies  and  convalescent  soldiers,  it  can  readily 
be  understood  that  the  prostrate  sufferers  worshipped 
the  Lady-in-Chief.  Her  presence  in  the  operating 
room  acted  like  magic.  Case  after  case  became 
amenable  to  the  surgeon  under  the  calming  influence 
of  her  presence.  It  is  not  surprising  that  men 
prostrate  with  weakness  and  agonised  with  pain 
often  rebelled  against  an  operation.  Anaesthetics 
were  not  administered  as  freely  then  as  they  are  to- 
day, and  many  brave  fellows  craved  death  rather  than 
meet  the  surgeon's  knife.  But  when  they  felt  the 
pitying  eyes  of  the  Lady-in-Chief  fixed  upon  them, 
saw  her  gentle  face,  heard  her  soothing  words  of 
comfort  and  hope  for  the  future,  and  were  conscious 
that  she  had  set  herself  to  bear  the  pain  of 
witnessing  pain,  the  men  would  obey  her  silent 
command,  and  submit  and  endure,  strengthened  by 
her  presence. 

Those  who  at  first  were  inclined  to  cavil  at  the 
power  which  the  Government  had  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Lady-in-Chief  speedily  reversed  their 
judgment,  as  day  by  day  they  witnessed  her 
strength    of  character   and    her    amazing    fortitude 


AT   WORK  IN  THE   BARRACK  HOSPITAL    153 

and  self-control  in  the  midst  of  scenes  which  tried 
the  strongest   men. 

The  magnitude  of  Miss  Nightingale's  work  in 
the  hospital  wards  has  caused  historians  to  overlook 
the  womanly  help  and  sympathy  which  she  gave 
to  the  soldiers'  wives  who  had  come  out  with  their 
husbands.  Even  Kinglake,  who  is  unsurpassed  in 
his  admiration  for  the  Lady-in-Chief,  does  not  mention 
this  side  of  her  work. 

When  Miss  Nightingale  arrived  at  Scutari  she 
found  a  number  of  poor  women,  the  wives  or  the 
widows  (may  be)  of  soldiers  who  had  gone  to  the 
front,  living  in  a  distressing  condition,  literally  in 
the  holes  and  corners  of  the  Barrack  Hospital. 
These  women,  being  detached  from  their  husbands' 
regiments,  had  no  claim  for  rations  and  quarters. 
The  colonel  of  each  regiment  had  power  to  allow 
a  certain  number  of  women  to  accompany  their 
husbands  on  foreign  service.  Each  woman  belonged 
to  her  regiment,  and  if  separated,  even  through  no 
choice  of  her  own,  there  was  no  provision  for  her. 
No  organisation  to  deal  with  them  existed  at  this 
period,  because  for  forty  years  there  had  been  no 
general  depot  of  an  English  army.  The  widows 
were  by  degrees  sent  home  by  order  of  the  Com- 
mandant, but  the  other  women,  many  of  them  wives 
of  soldiers  in  the  hospital  or  of  orderlies,  refused 
to  return  home  without  their  husbands. 


154      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Miss  Nightingale  found  these  poor  creatures, 
for  the  most  part  respectable  women,  without  decent 
clothing — their  clothes  having  worn  out — going  about 
bonnetless  and  shoeless  and  living  as  best  they 
could.  After  many  changes  from  one  "  hole  "  to 
another  the  women  were  housed  by  the  authorities 
in  three  or  four  dark  rooms  in  the  damp  basement 
of  the  hospital.  The  only  privacy  to  be  obtained 
was  by  hanging  up  rags  of  clothes  on  lines.  There, 
by  the  light  of  a  rushlight,  the  meals  were  taken, 
the  sick  attended,  and  there  the  babies  were  born 
and  nourished.  There  were  twenty-two  babies  born 
from  November  to  December,  and  many  more 
during  the  winter. 

It  needs  no  words  to  picture  the  gratitude  of  the 
women  to  the  dear  Lady-in-Chief  who  sought  them 
out  in  their  abject  misery,  gave  them  decent 
clothing  and  food  from  her  own  stores  in  the 
Nurses's  Tower,  and  saw  that  the  little  lives  ushered 
into  the  world  amid  the  horrors  and  privations  of 
war  had  at  least  tender  care.  At  the  end  of 
January,  owing  to  a  broken  drain  in  the  basement, 
fever  broke  out,  and  Miss  Nightingale  now  persuaded 
the  Commandant  to  remove  the  women  to  healthier 
quarters.  A  Turkish  house  was  procured  by 
requisition  and  Miss  Nightingale  had  it  cleaned 
and  furnished  out  of  her  funds.  Throughout  the 
winter  the  women  were  assisted  with  money,  food 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     155 

and  clothes,  and  outfits  were  provided  for  widows 
returning  home.  Miss  Nightingale  also  organised 
a  plan  to  give  employment  to  all  the  soldiers' 
wives  who  were  willing  to  work  in  her  laundry 
at  ten  shillings  to  fourteen  shillings  a  week.  The 
upper  part  of  the  wash-house  was  divided  into  a 
sick  ward  and  a  laundry,  and  offered  a  refuge  for 
the  more  respectable  women.  She  obtained  situations 
for  others  in  families  in  Constantinople.  A  school 
was  also  started  for  the  children.  Lady  Alicia 
Blackwood,  wife  of  Dr.  Blackwood,  an  army  chaplain, 
visited  the  women  and  helped  to  care  for  them. 
Through  Miss  Nightingale's  initiative  about  five 
hundred  women  were  raised  from  their  wretched 
condition  at  Scutari  and  enabled  to  earn  honest 
livings.  ''  When,"  wrote  Miss  Nightingale  later, 
"  the  improvements  in  our  system  which  the  war 
must  suggest  are  discussed,  let  not  the  wife  and 
child  of  the  soldier  be  forgotten." 

While  Florence  Nightingale  was  thus  heroically 
grappling  with  disease,  suffering,  and  death,  and 
bringing  order  out  of  chaos  in  the  hospitals  at  Scutari, 
small-minded  fanatics  at  home  were  attacking  her 
religious  opinions.  Some  declared  that  she  had 
gone  to  the  East  for  the  purpose  of  spreading 
Puseyism  amongst  the  British  soldiers,  others  that 
she  had  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  some  people  were 
certain    that    she    was    a    Unitarian,    while    others 


156      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

whispered  the  dreadful  heresy,  '^  Supralapsarian." 
A  clergyman  warned  his  flock  against  subscribing 
money  for  the  soldiers  in  the  East  if  it  was  to 
pass  through  Popish  hands.  Controversy  waxed 
strong  in  'The  Times  and  The  Standard^  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sidney  Herbert  warmly  defended  their 
absent  friend. 

"  It  is  melancholy  to  think/*  wrote  Mrs.  Herbert 
to  a  lady  parishioner  of  an  attacking  clergyman, 
"that  in  Christian  England  no  one  can  undertake 
anything  without  these  most  uncharitable  and 
sectarian  attacks,  and,  had  you  not  told  m.e  so, 
I  could  scarcely  believe  that  a  clergyman  of  the 
Established  Church  could  have  been  the  mouth- 
piece of  such  slander.  Miss  Nightingale  is  a 
member  of  the  Established  Church  of  England, 
and  what  is  called  rather  Low  Church,  but  ever 
since  she  went  to  Scutari  her  religious  opinions 
and  character  have  been  assailed  on  all  points. 
It  is  a  cruel  return  to  make  towards  one  to  whom 
all  England  owes  so  much." 

An  Irish  clergyman,  when  asked  to  what  sect 
Miss  Nightingale  belonged,  made  the  efl^ective 
reply  :  ''  She  belongs  to  a  sect  which,  unfortunately, 
is  a  very  rare  one — the  sect  of  the  Good  Samaritan." 

Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort  had  from 
the  first  taken  a  sympathetic  interest  in  Miss 
Nightingale's  work,    and  the  following   letter  from 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     157 

the  Queen  to  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  did  much 
towards  silencing  adverse  criticism,  as  it  showed 
the  confidence  which  her  Majesty  had  in  Miss 
Nightingale  and  her  nurses  : — 

"Windsor  Castle. 
''December  6th,  1854. 

"Would  you  tell  Mrs.  Herbert,"  wrote  the 
Queen  to  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert,  ''that  I  beg  she 
would  let  me  see  frequently  the  accounts  she 
receives  from  Miss  Nightingale  or  Mrs.  Bracebridge, 
as  /  hear  no  details  of  the  wounded,  though  I  see 
so  many  from  officers,  etc.,  about  the  battlefield, 
and  naturally  the  former  must  interest  me  more 
than  any  one. 

"  Let  Mrs.  Herbert  also  know  that  I  wish  Miss 
Nightingale  and  the  ladies  would  tell  these  poor, 
noble  wounded  and  sick  men  that  no  one  takes 
a  warmer  interest  or  feels  more  for  their  sufferings 
or  admires  their  courage  and  heroism  ?nore  than  their 
Queen.  Day  and  night  she  thinks  of  her  beloved 
troops.     So  does  the  Prince. 

"  Beg  Mrs.  Herbert  to  communicate  these  my 
words  to  those  ladies,  as  1  know  that  our  sympathy 
is  much  valued  by  these  noble  fellows. 

"  Victoria." 

This  kindly  letter,  coming  straight  from  the 
good  Queen's  heart,   without    any    official    verbiage 


158      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

to  smother  the  personal  feeling,  was  forwarded  to 
Miss  Nightingale,  and  on  its  receipt  she  placed 
it  in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  chaplains,  who  went 
from  ward  to  ward  reading  it  to  the  men,  ending 
each  recital  of  the  letter  with  "  God  save  the 
Queen,"  in  which  the  poor  sufferers  joined  with 
such  vigour  as  they  possessed.  Copies  of  the  letter 
were  afterwards  posted  up  on  the  walls  of  the 
hospital. 

Although  the  Lady-in-Chief's  work  and  person- 
ality had  already  overcome  much  official  prejudice, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Queen  Victoria's  letter 
greatly  strengthened  her  position.  It  was  now 
evident  that  it  was  to  Miss  Nightingale  that  the 
Sovereign  looked  for  tidings  of  the  wounded  and 
in  her  that  she  trusted  for  the  amelioration  of  their 
terrible  sufferings. 

When  Christmas  Day  dawned  in  the  great 
Barrack  Hospital  in  that  terrible  war  winter  of  1854, 
it  at  least  found  its  suffering  inmates  lying  in  cleanli- 
ness, with  comfortable  surroundings  and  supplied 
with  suitable  food.  Not  a  man  throughout  the 
huge  building  but  had  such  comforts  as  the  willing 
hands  and  tender  hearts  of  women  could  devise. 
This  change  had  been  brought  about  in  less  than 
two  months  by  the  clear  head  and  managing  brain 
which  ruled  in  the  Nurses'  Tower. 

The   "  Merry   Christmas "   passed  from    man   to 


AT   WORK  IN  THE  BARRACK  HOSPITAL     159 

man  was  not  a  misnomer,  despite  the  pain  and 
suffering  ;  the  men  were  at  least  "  merry "  that 
the  "nightingales  "  had  come.  When  the  Queen's 
health  was  drunk,  in  some  cases  from  medicine 
glasses,  each  man  in  his  heart  coupled  with  the 
loyal  toast  the  names  of  the  Lady-in-Chief  and 
her  devoted  band. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

GRAPPLING  WITH  CHOLERA  AND  FEVER 

Florence  Nightingale  describes  the  Hardships  of  the  Soldiers — 
Arrival  of  Fifty  More  Nurses — Memories  of  Sister  Mary 
Aloysius — The  Cholera  Scourge. 

So  in  that  house  of  misery, 
A  lady  with  a  lamp  I  see 

Pass  through  the  glimmering  gloom, 
And  flit  from  room  to  room. 

Longfellow. 

I^HE  New  Year  of  1855  brought  no  mitigation 
in  Florence  Nightingale's  arduous  task. 
Though  there  was  no  longer  the  influx  of  wounded 
from  the  battlefields,  disease  was  making  fearful 
ravages  amongst  the  soldiers  now  engaged  in  the 
prolonged  siege  of  Sebastopol.  Miss  Nightingale 
thus  described  the  hardships  endured  by  the  men 
in  a  letter  to  a  friend.  ''  Fancy,"  she  writes, 
"  working  five  nights  out  of  seven  in  the  trenches  ! 
Fancy  being  thirty-six  hours  in  them  at  a  stretch, 
as  they  were  all  December,  lying  down,  or  half 
lying  down,  after  forty-eight  hours^  with  no  food 
but  raw  salt  pork  sprinkled   with  sugar,  rum,  and 

160 


GRAPPLING  WITH  CHOLERA  AND  FEVER     i6i 

biscuit  ;  nothing  hot,  because  the  exhausted  soldier 
could  not  collect  his  own  fuel,  as  he  was  expected 
to  do,  to  cook  his  own  rations  ;  and  fancy  through 
all  this  the  army  preserving  their  courage  and 
patience  as  they  have  done.  There  is  something 
sublime  in  the  spectacle." 

The  result  of  this  life  of  exposure  in  the  trenches 
during  the  rigours  of  the  Crimean  winter  was 
terrible  suffering  amongst  the  soldiers  from  frost- 
bite and  dysentery,  and  there  was  a  great  increase 
in  cholera  and  fever,  which  kept  the  hospitals 
more  crowded  than  ever. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  a  further  staff  of 
fifty  trained  nurses  under  Miss  Stanley,  the  sister 
of  the  late  Dean,  arrived  at  Scutari  and  were 
distributed  amongst  the  various  hospitals  in  the 
East.  Miss  Nightingale  had  now  five  thousand 
sick  and  wounded  under  her  supervision,  and  eleven 
hundred  more  were  on  their  way  from  the  Crimea. 
Under  her  immediate  personal  care  in  the  Barrack 
Hospital  were  more  than  two  thousand  wounded,  all 
severe  cases.  She  had  also  now  established  her  regime 
in  the  General  Hospital  at  Scutari,  and  some  of  the 
new  nurses  were  installed  there  under  Miss  Emily 
Anderson,  while  others  went  to  Kullali  Hospital  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Bosphorus  and  worked  under 
Miss  Stanley  until  she  returned  to  England. 

Sisters  of  mercy  from  some  of  the  Irish  convents 

II 


i62       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

were  among  the  new  nurses,  and  one  of  the  number, 
Sister  Mary  Aloysius,  is  still  at  the  time  of  writing 
living  in  her  convent  home  at  Gort,  Co.  Galway. 
Her  "  Memories "  of  the  Crimea  afford  a  graphic 
picture  of  the  state  of  the  General  Hospital  at 
Scutari  and  of  the  arduous  toil  of  the  nurses. 

The  aged  sister  has  a  keen  sense  of  humour, 
and  in  describing  the  departure  of  Miss  Stanley's 
company  from  London  Bridge  for  Scutari,  evidently 
derived  som.e  satisfaction  that  her  nun's  garb  was 
less  extraordinary  than  the  dresses  provided  by  the 
Government  for  its  nurses.  ''  The  ladies  and  the 
paid  nurses,"  she  relates,  *'  wore  the  same  uniform — 
grey  tweed  wrappers,  worsted  jackets,  white  caps 
and  short  woollen  cloaks,  and  a  frightful  scarf  of 
brown  holland  embroidered  in  red  with  the  words 
*  Scutari  Hospital.'  The  garments  were  contract 
work  and  all  made  the  same  sizes.  In  consequence 
the  tall  ladies  appeared  to  be  attired  in  short  dresses 
and  the  short  ladies  in  long."  It  was  a  similar 
evidence  of  official  blundering  to  that  which  sent 
a  cargo  of  boots  for  the  soldiers  in  the  Crimea 
all  shaped  for  the  left  foot.  "  That  ladies  could 
be  found  to  walk  in  such  a  costume  was  certainly 
a  triumph  of  grace  over  nature,"  adds  Sister 
Aloysius.  The  fact  is  interesting  as  showing  the 
advance  made  in  modern  times  in  a  nurse's  official 
dress  as   exemplified  in  the  charming  though    use- 


GRAPPLING  WITH  CHOLERA  AND  FEVER     163 

ful  costumes  worn  by  military  nurses  in  the  South 
African  war. 

However,  all  honour  to  the  noble  pioneers  who 
sank  personal  considerations  and  effaced  self  in 
a  desire  to  discharge  their  errand  of  mercy. 

A  powerful  sidelight  is  thrown  on  the  work 
of  the  Lady-in-Chief  by  the  experiences  of  her 
subordinates.  Sister  Mary  Aloysius  writes  :  "  Where 
shall  I  begin,  or  how  can  I  ever  describe  my  first 
day  in  the  hospital  at  Scutari  }  Vessels  were  arriving 
and  orderlies  carrying  the  poor  fellows,  who  with 
their  wounds  and  frost-bites  had  been  tossing  about 
on  the  Black  Sea  for  two  or  three  days  and  sometimes 
more.  Where  were  they  to  go  ?  Not  an  available 
bed.  They  were  laid  on  the  floor  one  after  another, 
till  the  beds  were  emptied  of  those  dying  of  cholera 
and  every  other  disease.  Many  died  immediately 
after  being  brought  in — their  moans  would  pierce 
the  heart — and  the  look  of  agony  on  those  poor 
dying  faces  will  never  leave  my  heart.  They  may 
well  be  called  '  the  martyrs  of  the  Crimea.' 

"  The  cholera  was  of  the  very  worst  type,  and  the 
attacked  men  lasted  only  four  or  five  hours.  Oh, 
those  dreadful  cramps  !  You  might  as  well  try  to 
bend  a  piece  of  iron  as  to  move  the  joints.  The 
medical  staff  did  their  best,  and  daily,  hourly,  risked 
their  own  lives  with  little  or  no  success.  At  last 
every  one  seemed  to  be  getting  paralysed  and  the 


i64      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

orderlies  indifFerent  as  to  life  or  death.  .  .  .  The 
usual  remedies  ordered  by  the  doctors  were  stuping 
and  poultices  of  mustard.  They  were  very  anxious 
to  try  chloroform,  but  did  not  trust  any  one  with  it 
except  the  sisters." 

If  the  Lady-in-Chief  and  her  nurses  had  been  at 
first  rather  coldly  welcomed  in  the  surgery  wards, 
their  presence  when  the  epidemic  of  cholera  set  in 
was  indeed  counted  a  blessing.  These  trained  and 
devoted  women  could  be  entrusted  with  applying 
the  desperate  remedies  needed  for  the  disease,  which 
the  medical  staff  would  have  felt  it  useless  to 
leave  in  the  hands  of  orderlies.  The  stuping,  for 
example,  required  the  most  careful  attention  to  have 
any  chance  of  success.  The  method  of  the  sisters 
was  to  have  a  large  tub  of  boiling  water,  blankets 
torn  in  squares,  and  a  piece  of  canvas  with  a  running 
at  each  end  to  hold  a  stick.  The  blankets  were  put 
into  the  boiling  water,  lifted  out  with  tongs  and  put 
into  the  canvas.  An  orderly  at  each  end  wrung 
the  flannel  out  so  dry  that  not  a  drop  of  moisture 
remained.  Then  chloroform  was  sprinkled  on  the 
hot  blanket,  which  was  then  applied  to  the  patient's 
stomach.  Rubbing  with  mustard  and  even  with 
turpentine  followed,  until  the  iron  grip  which  had 
seized  the  body  was  released  or  the  end  had  come. 

The  nurses  fought  with  the  dread  disease  in  the 
most  heroic  manner,  but  the  proportion  saved  among 


GRAPPLING  WITH  CHOLERA  AND  FEVER     165 

the  stricken  was  small  indeed.  The  saddest  thing 
was  that  it  was  generally  the  strong  and  healthy 
soldier  who  was  attacked. 

"  One  day,"  says  Sister  Aloysius,  "  a  fine  young 
fellow,  the  picture  of  health  and  strength,  was  carried 
in  on  a  stretcher  to  my  ward.  I  said  to  the  orderlies, 
*  I  hope  we  shall  be  able  to  bring  him  through.'  I 
set  to  work  with  the  usual  remedies  ;  but  the  doctor 
shook  his  head,  and  said,  '  I  am  afraid  it's  all  no 
use,  sister.'  When  the  orderlies,  poor  fellows,  were 
tired,  I  set  to  work  myself,  and  kept  it  on  till  nearly 
the  end — but  you  might  as  well  rub  iron  ;  no  heat, 
no  movement  from  his  joints.  He  lived  about  the 
usual  time — four  or  five  hours." 

Week  after  week  the  fearful  scourge  continued, 
until  the  avenues  to  the  wards  were  never  free  from 
the  two  streams  of  stretchers,  one  bringing  in  the 
stricken,  the  other  carrying  out  the  dead.  The 
spread  of  the  infection  was  thought  to  be  largely 
due  to  the  graves  not  being  deep  enough,  and 
the  air  surrounding  the  hospitals  had  become 
putrid. 

Scarcely  less  dreadful  than  the  cholera  patients 
were  the  men  suffering  from  frost-bite,  who  arrived 
in  hundreds  from  the  trenches  before  Sebastopol. 
Nothing  enables  one  to  realise  their  terrible  con- 
dition like  the  narrative  of  one  on  the  spot.  Re- 
ferring to  her  experience  amongst  the  frost-bitten 


i66      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

patients,  Sister  Aloysius  says  :  "The  men  who 
came  from  the  '  Front,'  as  they  called  it,  had  only 
thin  linen  suits— no  other  clothing  to  keep  out  the 
severe  Crimean  frost.  When  they  were  carried 
in  on  the  stretchers,  which  conveyed  so  many  to 
their  last  resting-place,  their  clothes  had  to  be  cut 
off.  In  most  cases  the  flesh  and  clothes  were  frozen 
together  ;  and,  as  for  the  feet,  the  boots  had  to  be 
cut  off  bit  by  bit — the  flesh  coming  off  with  them  ; 
many  pieces  of  the  flesh  I  have  seen  remain  in  the 
boot.  Poultices  were  applied  with  some  oil  brushed 
over  them.  In  the  morning,  when  these  were 
removed — can  I  ever  forget  it  } — the  sinews  and 
bones  were  seen  to  be  laid  bare.  We  had  surgical 
instruments  ;  but  in  almost  every  case  the  doctors 
or  staff-surgeons  were  at  hand,  and  removed  the 
diseased  flesh  as  tenderly  as  they  could.  As  for  the 
toes,  you  could  not  recognise  them  as  such." 

One  could  multiply  these  ghastly  descriptions  if 
further  evidence  was  needed  to  show  the  terrible 
sufferings  endured  by  officers  and  men  alike  in  the 
trenches  before  Sebastopol.  Mention  the  famous 
siege  to  any  of  the  old  Crimean  veterans  as  they  sit 
beneath  the  trees  in  the  grounds  of  Chelsea  Hospital, 
and  they  will  tell  you  stories  of  hardships  endured 
which  makes  one  regard  their  still  living  bodies  with 
amazement.  And  they  are  not  mere  soldiers'  tales  : 
the  old  heroes  could  scarcely  invent  greater  horrors 


GRAPPLING  WITH  CHOLERA  AND  FEVER     167 

than  history  has  recorded.  The  weary  weeks  were 
passed  for  the  most  part  by  the  men  sitting  or  lying 
in  holes  dug  in  the  frozen  ground  deep  enough  to 
shelter  their  heads  from  the  flying  bullets  and 
bursting  bombs.  If  a  poor  fellow  decided  to  stretch 
his  numbed  and  cramped  legs,  he  was  more  than 
likely  to  have  his  head  blown  off.  Lord  Wolseley 
bears  to-day  the  marks  of  his  experiences  as  a 
venturesome  young  subaltern  in  the  trenches  at 
Sebastopol,  when,  riddled  with  bullets  and  a  part  of 
his  face  blown  away,  he  was  laid  on  one  side  by  the 
surgeons  as  a  "  dead  un."  Fortunately  he  managed 
to  prove  that  he  was  yet  alive.  The  Life  of 
Captain  Hedley  Vicars  reveals  also  the  privations  of 
the  time.  He  himself  lay  in  the  open  air  on  a 
bed  of  stones  and  leaves,  having  given  up  his  tent  to 
men  who  were  sick. 

The  cold  was  so  intense  that  in  a  sudden  skirmish 
the  men  were  often  unable  to  draw  their  triggers. 
A  frost-bitten  soldier  lying  ill  at  Balaclava,  when  he 
tried  to  turn  in  the  night,  found  that  his  feet  were 
frozen  to  those  of  another  soldier  lying  opposite. 

Hundreds  of  these  poor  men,  worn  out  by 
every  imaginable  kind  of  suffering,  were  constantly 
arriving  at  the  already  crowded  hospitals  at  Scutari. 
As  many  as  sixty  men  were  known  to  die  in  a  single 
night,  and  for  two  months  the  death  rate  stood  at 
60  per  cent. 


1 68      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Florence  Nightingale  seemed  to  be  everywhere, 
and  particularly  did  her  deep  religious  feelings 
prompt  her  to  speak  with  the  dying  and  point 
their  thoughts  to  heaven.  She  was  a  ministering 
angel  alike  for  soul  and  body.  In  her  ear  was 
often  murmured  the  last  message  home,  and  to 
her  was  entrusted  the  bit  of  money,  the  watch, 
or  the  cherished  keepsake  to  be  sent  to  wife  or 
sweetheart.  How  faithfully  these  dying  commissions 
were  carried  out,  in  spite  of  overwhelming  duties 
to  the  living,  is  known  to  families  all  over  the  land 
who  have  loved  ones  sleeping  beneath  the  cypress- 
trees  on  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus. 

At  night,  after  the  surgeons  had  gone  their 
rounds,  the  figure  of  the  Lady-in-Chief  was  seen 
in  her  simple  black  dress,  white  apron,  and  small 
closely  fitting  white  cap  gliding  through  the  wards 
and  corridors  carrying  a  tiny  lamp  in  her  hand.  By 
its  light  she  saw  where  pain  was  greatest,  where 
the  Angel  of  Death  was  about  to  descend,  and  she 
would  pause  to  smooth  a  pillow,  or  give  the  word 
of  consolation. 

Florence  Nightingale's  sublime  courage  was 
strikingly  shown  in  these  nocturnal  rounds.  Then, 
when  silence  for  the  most  part  reigned,  and  the 
sufferers  were  courting  slumber,  the  ear  was 
most  likely  to  be  startled  by  some  heart-breaking 
sound.      The   delirious  call  of  the  poor  emaciated 


GRAPPLING  WITH  CHOLERA  AND  FEVER     169 

fellow  who  still  fancied  himself  in  the  trenches 
before  Sebastopol,  or  on  the  blood-stained  ridges 
of  Inkerman  fighting  for  dear  life,  the  smothered 
sob  at  thought  of  home,  the  hacking  cough,  the 
groan  of  agony,  the  gasp  of  death — these  were 
the  sounds  which  fell  on  the  stillness  as  "  the 
lady  with  the  lamp "  moved  from  bed  to  bed. 
One  such  experience  would  be  a  memory  for  a  life- 
time, but  night  after  night,  week  after  week,  and 
month  after  month,  our  heroine  fulfilled  this  sad 
and  tender  ministry  to  the  suffering.  Longfellow 
paid  his  beautiful  tribute  to  the  lady  with  the  lamp 
in  verses  which  impel  quotation,  familiar  as  they 
are  : — 

So  in  that  house  of  misery, 
A  lady  with  a  lamp  I  see 

Pass  through  the  glimmering  gloom, 

And  flit  from  room  to  room. 

And  slowly,  as  in  a  dream  of  bliss, 
The  speechless  sufferer  turns  to  kiss 

Her  shadow,  as  it  falls 

Upon  the  darkening  walls. 

On  England's  annals,  through  the  long 
Hereafter  of  her  speech  and  song, 

A  light  its  rays  shall  cast 

From  portals  of  the  past. 

A  lady  with  a  lamp  shall  stand 
In  the  great  history  of  the  land, 

A  noble  type  of  good. 

Heroic  womanhood. 


I70      LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

To  the  poet's  vision,  Florence  Nightingale  was 
the  modern  Santa  Filomena,  the  beautiful  saint 
pictured  by  Sabatelli  descending  from  heaven  with 
attendant  angels  to  minister  to  the  sick  and 
maimed. 


CHAPTER    XV 

TIMELY  HELP 

Lavish  Gifts  for  the  Soldiers — The  Times  Fund — The  Times 
Commissioner  Visits  Scutari — His  Description  of  Miss  Nightin- 
gale— Arrival  of  M.  Soyer,  the  Famous  C^^/— He  Describes 
Miss  Nightingale. 

This   is   true  philanthropy,    that  buries   not   its  gold  in    ostentatious 
charity,  but  builds  its  hospital  in  the  human  heart. — G.  D.  Harley. 

MISS  NIGHTINGALE'S  personal  eiForts  for 
the  sick  and  wounded  soldiery  were  nobly 
and  most  generously  seconded  by  sympathisers  at 
home.  Ladies  were  continually  arriving  at  the 
Admiralty  Office  in  carriages  piled  with  huge  boxes 
and  chests  labelled  *'  Miss  Nightingale,"  and  such 
large  cargoes  reached  Scutari  that  it  was  said  at 
the  time  the  officials  might  fancy  that  the  Indian 
mail  had  been  landed  by  mistake. 

The  Queen  in  her  palace,  assisted  by  the  young 
princesses,  in  common  with  women  of  all  degrees 
throughout  the  land,  were  making  lint  and  bandages, 
sewing  shirts  and  knitting  socks,  for  the  poor 
soldiers.     Nothing    indeed   was    deemed    too    good 

171 


172      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

for  the  suffering  heroes.  Sister  Mary  Aloysius  re- 
lates that  when  she  first  began  to  sort  the  stores 
in  the  sheds  at  Scutari,  she  thought  that  the 
"  EngHsh  nobihty  must  have  emptied  their  ward- 
robes and  linen  stores  to  send  out  bandages  for 
the  wounded.  There  was  the  most  beautiful  under- 
clothing, and  the  finest  cambric  sheets,  with  merely 
a  scissors  run  here  and  there  through  them,  to 
ensure  their  being  used  for  no  other  purpose,  some 
from  the  Queen's  palace,  with  the  Royal  monogram 
beautifully  worked."  Amongst  these  delicate  things 
the  rats  had  a  fine  time,  and  on  the  woollen  goods 
they  feasted  sumptuously  ere  the  sisters  could  get 
them  sorted  and  distributed  from  their  temporary 
resting-place  in  the  sheds  outside  the  hospitals. 

While  private  charity  was  sending  its  promiscuous 
bales  of  goods,  T!he  Himes^  to  which  belonged  the 
honour  of  having  first  aroused  public  interest  in 
the  suffering  soldiery,  had  organised  a  fund  for  the 
relief  of  the  wounded  which  met  with  the  most 
generous  support.  The  great  journal  undertook  to 
distribute  the  fund,  and  for  this  purpose  appointed 
Mr.  Macdonald,  a  man  of  high  character  and 
endowed  with  good  sense  and  discrimination,  to 
proceed  to  the  East  and  ascertain  on  the  spot  the 
manner  in  which  the  money  could  be  best  apphed 
for  the  relief  of  the  distressed  army. 

Before  setting  forth  Mr.  Macdonald  called  on  the 


TIMELY  HELP  173 

Duke  of  Newcastle,  Secretary  of  State  for  War, 
also  on  Dr.  Andrew  Smith,  the  Inspector-General, 
and  was  assured  by  both  that  such  ample  measures 
had  been  taken  by  Government  that  'The  'Times 
fund  was  really  scarcely  needed  for  the  relief  of 
the  sick  and  wounded.  However,  Mr.  Macdonald 
proceeded  on  his  way,  for  there  was  at  least  one 
man  connected  with  the  War  Office — Sidney  Herbert 
— who  knew  from  Florence  Nightingale's  letters 
what  the  true  state  of  affairs  was. 

When  The  'Times  commissioner  reached  the 
Bosphorus,  he  again  had  cold  water  thrown  on  his 
mission.  Officialdom  laughed  amiably  over  "  bring- 
ing coals  to  Newcastle."  Mr.  Macdonald  found, 
however,  that  the  men  of  the  39th  Regiment  on 
their  way  to  the  seat  of  war  were  going  to  face 
the  rigours  of  a  Crimean  winter  in  the  trenches 
before  Sebastopol  in  the  light  and  airy  garments 
which  they  had  been  wearing  at  Gibraltar,  and  he 
got  rid  of  some  of  his  Times  gold  by  going  into  the 
markets  of  Constantinople  and  purchasing  suits  of 
flannels  for  the  men. 

When  Mr.  Macdonald  at  length  reached  the 
hospitals  at  Scutari — those  hospitals  the  deficient  and 
insanitary  state  of  which  had  moved  the  heart  of  the 
country  to  its  core — he  must  have  felt  dumfounded 
when  Dr.  Menzies,  the  chief  medical  officer,  in 
answer  to  his  offer  of  help,  told  him  that  "  nothing 


174      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

was  wanted."  It  seemed  that  officialdom  was 
leagued  together  to  deny  the  existence  of  wants 
which  the  Government  ought  to  have  met.  In  a 
higher  quarter  still,  Kinglake  relates  that  The 
Times  commissioner  was  met  with  the  astounding 
proposal  that  as  the  fund  was  wholly  unneeded,  he 
might  disembarrass  himself  of  it  by  building  an 
Episcopal  Church  at  Pera  ! 

However,  there  was  one  person  to  whom  Mr. 
Macdonald  had  not  yet  offered  his  money-bags,  and 
he  forthwith  proceeded  to  the  Barrack  Hospital 
and  sought  an  interview  with  the  Lady-in-Chief 
and  related  his  experiences 

"  Help  not  needed  !  the  soldiers  provided  with 
all  necessaries  !  the  proffered  money  thrown  back 
on  the  donors  !  "  Florence  Nightingale  must  have 
taken  a  long  gasp  when  she  heard  that.  She 
marshalled  the  excellent  Mr.  Macdonald  and  his 
superfluous  cash  away  to  her  office  in  the  Nurses* 
Tower,  where  he  could  see  for  himself  the  daily 
demands  on  her  private  stores  made  by  the  sick 
and  wounded  soldiers,  and  how  impossible  it  was, 
despite  the  generous  gifts  already  received  from  the 
charitable  at  home,  to  meet  all  requirements. 

The  Lady-in-Chief  could  tell  of  men  arriving  by 
hundreds  without  a  shred  of  decent  clothing  on  their 
backs,  of  the  lack  of  hospital  furniture,  of  beds, 
pillows,    sheets,    and    sanitary   appliances,    even   of 


TIMEL  Y  HELP 


175 


drugs,  to  say  nothing  of  materials  for  invalid  food. 
Before  the  narration  was  concluded  Mr.  Macdonald 
must  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  would 
be  no  church  built  at  Pera  just  yet. 

I^he  'Times  almoner  now  found  his  days  fully 
taken  up  in  visits  of  investigation  to  the  wards, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Lady-in-Chief,  and  many 
hours  of  each  day  were  spent  in  her  office  in  the 
Nurses'  Tower,  taking  down  in  his  notebook  the 
things  which  were  pressingly  needed  and  dispatching 
orders  to  the  storekeepers  of  Constantinople.  Miss 
Nightingale  had  now  found  the  kind  of  help  really 
needed.  Here  was  English  gold  to  replenish  her 
stores  at  discretion,  and  she  was  no  longer  left 
to  depend  on  promiscuous  charity,  which  sent 
embroidered  cambric  when  good  stout  calico  would 
have  been  more  useful,  or  fancy  mufflers  to  men  who 
needed  shirts.  On  the  eve  of  his  return  to  England 
Mr.  Macdonald  wrote  of  the  Lady-in-Chief: — 

^*  Wherever  there  is  disease  in  its  most  dangerous 
form,  and  the  hand  of  the  spoiler  distressingly  nigh, 
there  is  this  incomparable  woman  sure  to  be  seen. 
Her  benignant  presence  is  an  influence  for  good 
comfort  even  among  the  struggles  of  expiring  nature. 
She  is  a  *  ministering  angel '  without  any  exaggera- 
tion in  these  hospitals,  and  as  her  slender  form  glides 
quietly  along  each  corridor,  every  poor  fellow's  face 
softens  with  gratitude  at  the  sight  of  her.     When  all 


176      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  medical  officers  have  retired  for  the  night,  and 
silence  and  darkness  have  settled  down  upon  those 
miles  of  prostrate  sick,  she  may  be  observed  alone, 
with  a  little  lamp  in  her  hands,  making  her  soHtary 
rounds. 

'*  The  popular  instinct  was  not  mistaken  which, 
when  she  had  set  out  from  England  on  the  mission 
of  mercy,  hailed  her  as  a  heroine  ;  I  trust  she  may 
not  earn  her  title  to  a  higher  though  sadder  appella- 
tion. No  one  who  has  observed  her  fragile  figure 
and  delicate  health  can  avoid  misgivings  lest  these 
should  fail.  With  the  heart  of  a  true  woman 
and  the  manners  of  a  lady,  accomplished  and  refined 
beyond  most  of  her  sex,  she  combines  a  surprising 
calmness  of  judgment  and  promptitude  and  decision 
of  character. 

"  I  have  hesitated  to  speak  of  her  hitherto  as 
she  deserves,  because  I  well  knew  that  no  praise 
of  mine  could  do  justice  to  her  merits,  while  it 
might  have  tended  to  embarrass  the  frankness  with 
which  she  has  always  accepted  the  aid  furnished 
her  through  the  fund.  As  that  source  of  supply 
is  now  nearly  exhausted  and  my  mission  approaches 
its  close,  I  can  express  myself  with  more  freedom 
on  this  subject,  and  I  confidently  assert  that  but 
for  Miss  Nightingale  the  people  of  England  would 
scarcely,  with  all  their  solicitude,  have  been  spared 
the  additional  pang   of  knowing,  which  they  must 


TIMELY  HELP  177 

have  done  sooner  or  later,  that  their  soldiers,  even 
in  the  hospital,  had  found  scanty  refuge  and  relief 
from  the  unparelleled  miseries  with  which  this  war 
has  hitherto  been  attended." 

After  the  departure  of  Mr.  Macdonald,  Miss 
Nightingale  received  another  welcome  and  also  an 
entertaining  visitor  in  the  person  of  M.  Soyer,  an 
expert  in  cooking  and  culinary  matters  generally, 
to  offer  his  services  at  the  hospitals.  M.  Soyer's 
''  campaign  "  was  initiated  in  February,  1855,  by  the 
following  letter  to  the  editor  of  "The  T^imes  : — 

"Sir,— 

'^  After  carefully  perusing  the  letter  of  your 
correspondent,  dated  Scutari,  in  your  impression 
of  Wednesday  last,  I  perceive  that,  although  the 
kitchen  under  the  superintendence  of  Miss  Night- 
ingale affords  so  much  relief,  the  system  of  manage- 
ment at  the  large  one  in  the  Barrack  Hospital  is 
far  from  being  perfect.  I  propose  offering  my 
services  gratuitously,  and  proceeding  direct  to 
Scutari  at  my  own  personal  expense,  to  regulate 
that  important  department,  if  the  Government  will 
honour  me  with  their  confidence,  and  grant  me 
the  full  power  of  acting  according  to  my  know- 
ledge and  experience  in  such  matters. 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  remain,  sir, 

''  Your  obedient  servant, 

"A.  Soyer." 
12 


178       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

The  services  of  M.  Soyer  haviiig  been  accepted, 
he  in  due  course  sailed  for  the  East  and  arrived 
at  Scutari  in  April.  The  gallant  Frenchman  was 
all  anxiety  to  pay  his  respects  to  "  Mademoiselle 
Nightingale,"  and  was  gratified  to  hear  that  she  had 
heard  of  his  arrival  and  would  be  much  pleased  to 
see  him.  As  soon  as  he  reached  the  Barrack 
Hospital  he  inquired  for  Miss  Nightingale's 
apartment,  and  was  immediately  shown  into  what 
he  terms  ''  a  sanctuary  of  benevolence." 

Upon  entering  the  room,  M.  Soyer  was  received 
by  the  Lady-in-Chief,  to  whom,  after  the  inevitable 
complimentary  speech,  he  presented  parcels  and 
letters  from  Mr.  Stafford,  who  had  been  such  an 
indefatigable  helper  to  Miss  Nightingale  in  the  past 
winter,  and  other  friends,  among  them  one  from 
Harriet,  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  who  strongly  com- 
mended M.  Soyer  to  Miss  Nightingale  as  likely 
to  be  of  service  in  the  kitchen  department.  The 
Lady-in-Chief  arranged  to  accompany  her  visitor  in 
a  tour  of  inspection,  and  M.  Soyer  thus  records  his 
impressions  : — 

"  On  my  arrival  I  first  visited,  in  company  with 
Miss  Nightingale  and  one  of  the  medical  officers, 
all  the  store-rooms,  cook-houses,  kitchens,  and 
provision  departments,  to  glean  an  idea  of  the 
rules,  regulations,  and  allowances  made  by  the 
authorities.     Instead  of  there  being  no  appropriate 


TIMELY  HELP  179 

kitchen,  as  was  represented  by  several  Government 
employees  prior  to  my  embarkation  for  the  East, 
I  found  ample  room  and  space  adapted  for  culinary 
purposes  even  upon  the  most  elaborate  and  ex- 
tensive scale. 

"  I  must  especially  express  my  gratitude  to  Miss 
Nightingale,  who  from  her  extraordinary  intelligence 
and  the  good  organisation  of  her  kitchen  procured 
me  every  material  for  making  a  commencement, 
and  thus  saved  me  at  least  one  week's  sheer  loss 
of  time,  as  my  model  kitchen  did  not  arrive  until 
Saturday  last." 

The  Lady-in-Chief  found  a  very  valuable  ally  in 
M.  Soyer,  who  was  eagerly  ready  to  carry  out 
her  suggestions  for  the  furtherance  of  various 
schemes  for  the  better  dietary  arrangements  for  the 
sick,  and  who  introduced  new  stoves  and  fuel  and 
many  other  reforms  of  which  she  had  hardly  dared 
to  dream  in  the  first  months  of  her  work.  To 
these  new  arrangements  Lord  William  Paulet,  the 
military  Commandant,  and  Drs.  Cummings,  Menziea 
and  Macgregor  the  principal  medical  officers,  gave 
their  entire  approval,  and  Miss  Nightingale  had  at 
length  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  culinary  ar- 
rangements of  the  Scutari  hospitals  arranged  on  a 
model  plan. 

During  his  stay  M.  Soyer  obtained  a  glimpse 
into    the    **  ministering    angel  *'    side   of    the    lady 


i8o      LIFE   OB  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

whose  excellent  business  faculty  had  filled  him 
with  admiration  as  he  inspected  stoves  and  boilers 
and  discussed  rations  and  diets  in  their  rounds  of 
the  kitchens.  He  had  been  spending  a  jovial 
evening  in  the  doctors'  quarters,  and  in  making 
his  way  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  his  own 
apartment,  he  saw,  at  an  angle  of  one  of  the  long 
corridors  filled  with  sick  and  wounded,  a  group 
revealed  in  silhouette  by  a  faint  light.  A  dying 
soldier  was  half  reclining  upon  his  bed,  at  the  side 
of  which  sat  Florence  Nightingale  pencilling  down 
his  last  wishes  home.  A  sister  stood  at  her  back 
holding  a  lighted  candle.  The  group  thus  outlined, 
like  a  sombre  study  of  Rembrandt,  drew  M.  Soyer 
to  the  spot,  and  for  a  time  unseen  he  observed 
the  dying  man  pass  his  watch  and  trinkets  into 
those  tender  womanly  hands  of  the  Lady-in-Chief, 
and  heard  the  laboured  gasp  of  the  man  to  articulate 
the  last  message  to  wife  and  children.  Then 
approaching  Miss  Nightingale,  M.  Soyer  inquired 
as  to  the  complaint  of  her  patient,  when  she  replied 
in  French  that  the  poor  fellow  had  been  given  up 
by  the  doctors  and  was  not  likely  to  last  many 
hours,  and  she  was  noting  down  his  last  wishes  for 
his  relatives.  The  incident  enables  one  to  realise 
how  manifold  were  Miss  Nightingale's  duties  and 
how  after  laborious  days  she  gave  up  hours  of 
needed  rest  in  order  to  comfort  the  dying. 


TIMELY  HELP  i8i 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  his  model  kitchen, 
M.  Soyer  received  a  visit  from  General  Vivian,  and 
while  the  General  was  there  Miss  Nightingale 
entered  the  kitchen,  and  an  animated  conversation 
ensued  regarding  hospital  treatment.  At  the  con- 
clusion, M.  Soyer  relates  that  the  General  said, 
*^  M.  Soyer,  Miss  Nightingale's  name  and  your 
own  will  be  for  ever  associated  in  the  archives 
of  this  memorable  war." 

One  can  understand  the  ecstasy  of  the  volatile 
Frenchman  at  finding  himself  coupled  in  such 
distinguished  company  and  forgive  his  little  conceit, 
for  he  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  our  heroine, 
and  has  left  one  of  the  best  pen  portraits  of  her 
extant.  ''  She  is  rather  high  in  stature,"  he  writes, 
*'fair  in  complexion  and  sHm  in  person  ;  her  hair 
is  brown,  and  is  worn  quite  plain  ;  her  physiognomy 
is  most  pleasing  ;  her  eyes,  of  a  bluish  tint,  speak 
volumes,  and  are  always  sparkling  with  intelligence  ; 
her  mouth  is  small  and  well  formed,  while  her  lips 
act  in  unison,  and  make  known  the  impression  of 
her  heart — one  seems  the  reflex  of  the  other.  Her 
visage,  as  regards  expression,  is  very  remarkable, 
and  one  can  almost  anticipate  by  her  countenance 
what  she  is  about  to  say  :  alternately,  with  matters 
of  the  most  grave  import,  a  gentle  smile  passes 
radiantly  over  her  countenance,  thus  proving  het 
evenness  of  temper  ;    at  other  times,  when  wit  or 


i82      LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

2l  pleasantry  prevails,  the  heroine  is  lost  in  the 
happy,  good-natured  smile  which  pervades  her  face, 
and  you  recognise  only  the  charming  woman. 

"  Her  dress  is  generally  of  a  greyish  or  black 
tint ;  she  wears  a  simple  white  cap,  and  often  a 
rough  apron.  In  a  word,  her  whole  appearance 
is  religiously  simple  and  unsophisticated.  In  con- 
versation no  member  of  the  fair  sex  can  be  more 
amiable  and  gentle  than  Miss  Nightingale.  Re- 
moved from  her  arduous  and  cavalier-like  duties, 
which  require  the  nerve  of  a  Hercules — and  she 
possesses  it  when  required — she  is  Rachel  on  the 
stage  in  both  tragedy  and  comedy." 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE   ANGEL    OF  DEATH 

Death  of  Seven  Surgeons  at  Scutari-The  First  of  the  "  Angel  Band  " 
Stricken— Deaths  of  Miss  Smythe,  Sister  Winifred,  and  Sister 
Mary  Elizabeth— Touching  Verses  by  an  Orderly. 

Sleep  that  no  pain  shall  wake, 
Night  that  no  morn  shall  break, 
Till  joy  shall  overtake 
Her  perfect  calm. 

Christina  Rossetti. 

It  is  the  cause,  and  not  the  death,  that  makes  the  martyr.-NAPOLEON. 

THROUGHOUT  the  spring  of  1855  disease 
continued  its  ravages  amongst  the  soldiers 
in  the  Crimea  without  abatement,  and  there  was  y 
an  increase  of  tj^l^u^jever  in  its  worst  form.  The 
constitutions  of  the  men  were  so  undermined  by 
the  privations  through  which  they  had  passed  that 
they  were  unable  to  fight  against  the  disease. 

The  "men  with  the  spades"  had  no  cessation 
from  their  melancholy  toil  at  Scutari.  Deaths 
occurred  daily  in  the  hospitals,  and  the  stricken 
took  the  places  of  the  dead  only  themselves  to  die 
before  another  day  had  dawned. 

183 


1 84       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

The  fever  also  attacked  the  hospital  staff.  Eight 
of  the  surgeons  were  prostrated,  and  of  these  seven 
died.  Miss  Nightingale  herself  tended  Dr.  Newton 
and  Dr.  Struthers  in  their  last  moments,  a 
matter  of  inexpressible  comfort  to  their  friends. 
For  a  time  there  was  only  one  medical  attendant 
in  a  fit  state  of  health  to  wait  on  the  sick  in  the 
Barrack  Hospital,  and  his  services  were  needed  in 
twenty-four  wards.  Three  of  the  nurses  were  also 
attacked  by  the  fever.  With  the  medical  staff 
prostrated  and  fever  threatening  her  own  band, 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  Lady-in-Chief 
became  more  formidable.  She  bore  the  strain  in 
a  marvellous  manner,  and  there  is  no  record 
that  throughout  this  terrible  winter  at  Scutari  she 
was  once  unable  to  discharge  her  duties.  An 
inflexible  will  and  iron  nerve  carried  her  over 
all  difficulties,  and  it  seemed  as  though  Florence 
Nightingale  led  a  charmed  life. 

Hitherto  she  had  been  spared  the  sorrow  of 
seeing  any  of  her  own  band  stricken  by  death,  but 
just  when  the  sweet  spring-time  was  lifting  the  gloom 
of  this  winter  of  terrible  experiences  the  call  came 
to  one  of  the  best  beloved  of  her  nurses,  Miss 
Elizabeth  Anne  Smythe.  She  had  accompanied  Miss 
Nightingale  to  Scutari,  was  a  personal  friend,  and 
had  been  trained  by  her.  Miss  Smythe's  beautiful 
character  and  her  capabilities  as  a  nurse  made  her 


THE  ANGEL    OF  DEATH  185 

very  valuable  to  her  chief,  who  with  great  regret 
consented  that  she  should  go  from  Scutari  to  the 
hospital  at  Kullali,  where  help  seemed  more  urgently 
needed.  Miss  Nightingale  had  hoped  that  they 
might  have  continued  to  work  side  by  side  until 
the  end  of  the  campaign,  but  the  young  sister  felt 
a  call  to  go  to  Kullali,  where  help  was  needed. 

Shortly  after  her  arrival  she  wrote  to  her  friends 
in  excellent  spirits  with  every  indication  of  being 
in  good  health,  and  said  how  glad  she  was  to  have 
had  the  courage  to  come.  The  presence  of  such 
a  bright,  well-qualified  nurse  was  a  great  acquisition 
to  the  hospital  staff,  and  she  soon  became  a  favourite 
with  the  patients.  In  a  few  days,  however,  she  was 
stricken  with  the  malignant  fever.  It  was  hoped 
against  hope  that  her  youth  and  good  constitution 
would  enable  her  to  resist  the  attack,  and  for  eight 
days  she  lay  between  life  and  death,  anxiously 
watched  by  doctors  and  nurses.  Then  peacefully 
she  fell  asleep  and  passed  to  her  martyr's  crown. 

She  was  the  first  of  the  '^  Angel  Band  "  to  be 
stricken  by  death,  and  her  loss  cast  a  gloom  over 
those  that  remained,  but  as  Miss  Nightingale  has 
herself  said,  "  Martyrs  there  must  be  in  every  cause." 

The  funeral  of  the  beloved  young  sister  took 
place  at  Easter-time  under  bright  azure  skies, 
when  Nature  was  decking  that  Eastern  land  in  a 
fresh  garb  of  loveliness.     The  simple  coffin,  covered 


1 86      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

with  a  white  pall,  emblematic  of  the  youthful  purity 
of  her  who  slept  beneath,  was  conveyed  through 
the  streets  of  Smyrna  to  the  English  burying-ground, 
a  route  of  two  miles,  through  crowds  of  sympathetic 
spectators.  The  coffin  was  preceded  by  a  detach- 
ment of  fifty  soldiers,  marching  sorrowfully  with 
arms  reversed.  Immediately  in  front  of  the  coffin 
walked  two  chaplains,  and  on  either  side  were  sisters 
and  nurses.  Military  and  medical  officers  followed 
the  cortege^  which  passed  through  the  silent  streets, 
a  touching  and  pathetic  spectacle.  Christian  and 
Moslem^  ahke  joined  in  paying  a  tribute  of  homage 
to  one  whose  deeds  of  mercy  lifted  her  above  the 
strife  of  creeds. 

The  first  young  Christian  martyr 

Is  carried  to  the  tomb, 
And  busy  marts  and  crowded  streets 

Are  wrapt  ahke  in  gloom. 

And  men  who  loathe  the  Cross  and  name 

Which  she  was  proud  to  own, 
Yet  pay  their  homage,  meet  and  due, 

To  her  good  deeds  alone. 

Before  many  weeks  had  passed  by.  Miss  Nightin- 
gale was  again  called  to  mourn  the  loss  of  another 
of  her  helpers.  The  next  claimed  by  death  was 
Sister  Winifred,  a  Sister  of  Charity,  who,  with  other 
nuns  from  Ireland,  was  tending  the  Irish  soldiers 
in   the   hospital    at    Balaclava,    to    which    they    had 


THE  ANGEL   OF  DEATH  187 

recently  come  from  Scutari  and  Kullali.  Only  a 
few  days  after  her  arrival  Sister  Winifred  was 
attacked  by  cholera,  which  had  broken  out  afresh 
at  Balaclava. 

Very  touching  is  the  account  which  Sister  Mary 
Aloysius  gives  of  the  death  of  her  comrade  :  "  Our 
third  day  in  Balaclava  was  a  very  sad  one 
for  us.  One  of  our  dear  band,  Sister  Winifred, 
got  very  ill  during  the  night  with  cholera.  She 
was  a  most  angelic  sister,  and  we  were  all  deeply 
grieved.  She  was  attacked  at  about  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  with  the  symptoms  which  were 
now  so  well  known  to  us ;  every  remedy  was 
applied  ;  our  beloved  Rev.  Mother  never  left  her. 
She  was  attended  by  Father  Unsworth,  from  whom 
she  received  the  last  rites  of  our  holy  religion  ; 
and  she  calmly  breathed  her  last  on  the  evening 
of  the  same  day.  A  hut  was  arranged  in  which 
to  place  the  remains  ;  and  so  alarming  were  the  \J 
rats — and  such  huge  animals  were  they — that  we 
had  to  watch  during  the  night  so  that  they  should  not 
touch  her.  She,  the  first  to  go  of  our  little  band  (viz. 
the  Roman  Catholic  sisters),  had  been  full  of  life 
and  energy  the  day  before.  We  were  all  very 
sad,  and  we  wondered  who  would  be  the  next." 

A  burial-place  was  found  for  Sister  Winifred  on 
a  piece  of  ground  between  two  rocks,  on  the  hills 
of  Balaclava,  where  her  remains  could  repose  without 


i88      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

fear  of  desecration.  The  funeral  formed  a  contrast 
to  that  of  the  Protestant  sister  at  Smyrna,  but  was 
equally  impressive.  We  can  picture  the  sad  cavalcade, 
distinguished  by  the  symbols  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith,  wending  its  way  up  the  hillside  to  the  lonely 
spot  in  the  rocks  above  the  Black  Sea.  Two  priests 
preceded  the  coffin,  chanting  the  prayers,  and  the 
black-robed  nuns  came  closely  behind,  while  soldiers 
and  military  and  medical  officers  followed. 

Amongst  the  mourning  band  walked  one  tall, 
slight  figure  dressed  simply  in  black  whose  presence 
arrested  attention.  It  was  Florence  Nightingale, 
who  had  come  to  pay  her  tribute  of  love  and  honour 
to  the  sister  who,  if  divided  by  faith,  had  been 
united  with  her  in  holy  work  and  deeds  of  mercy. 

A  tribute  was  paid  to  the  memory  of  Sister 
Winifred  in  a  poem  by  a  friend,  from  which  we 
quote  the  following  verses  : — 

They  laid  her  in  her  lonely  grave  upon  a  foreign  strand, 
Far  from  her  own  dear  island  home,  far  from  her  native  land. 
They  bore  her  to  her  long  last  home  amid  the  clash  of  arms, 
And  the  hymn  they  sang  seemed  sadly  sweet  amid  war's  fierce 
alarms. 

They  heeded  not  the  cannon's  roar,  the  rifle's  deadly  shot, 
But  onward  still  they  sadly  went  to  gain  that  lowly  spot ; 
And  there,  with  many  a  fervent  prayer  and  many  a  word  of 

love, 
They  left  her  in  her  lowly  grave  with  a  simple  cross  above. 
*  ♦  ♦  »  ♦ 


THE  ANGEL    OF  DEATH  189 

Yet  far  away  from  her  convent  grey,  and  far  from  her  lowly 

cell, 
And  far  from  the  soft  and  silvery  tone  of  the  sweet  convent 

bell. 
And  far  from   the  home  she  loved  so  well,  and  far  from  her 

native  sky, 
'Mid  the  cannon's  roar  on  a  hostile  shore  she  laid  her  down 

to  die. 

♦  *  ♦  *  • 

She  went  not  forth  to  gain  applause,  she  sought  not  empty 

fame ; 
E'en   those  she  tended  might  not  know  her  history  or   her 

name  ; 
No  honours  waited  on  her  path,  no  flattering  voice  was  nigh ; 
For  she  only  sought  to  toil  and  love,  and  'mid  her  toil  to 

die. 

They  raise  no  trophy  to  her  name,  they  rear  no  stately  bust, 
To   tell    the  stranger  where   she  rests,  co-mingling  with  the 

dust; 
They  leave  her  in  her  lowly  grave,  beneath  that  foreign  sky. 
Where  she  had  taught  them  how  to  live,  and  taught  them  how 

to  die. 

The  grave  of  Sister  V/inifred  was,  unhappily,  not 
destined  to  remain  solitary.  In  the  early  spring 
of  1856 — to  anticipate  the  sequence  of  our 
narrative  a  little — another  funeral  was  seen  wending 
its  way,  to  the  chanting  of  priests,  up  the  hills  of 
Balaclava.  It  was  the  body  of  Sister  Mary  Elizabeth, 
who  had  died  of  fever,  caught  amongst  the  patients 
of  her  ward.  Our  informant,  Sister  Mary  Aloysius, 
thus  describes  the  death  scene  as  it  occurred  amid  a 


190      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

storm  which  threatened  to  unroof  the  wooden  hut 
where  the  dying  sister  lay  :  *'  It  was  a  wild,  wild 
night.  The  storm  and  wind  penetrated  the  chinks 
so  as  to  extinguish  the  lights,  and  evoked  many  a 
prayer  that  the  death-bed  might  not  be  left  roofless. 
It  was  awful  beyond  description  to  kneel  beside  her 
during  these  hours  of  her  passage  and  to  hear  the 
solemn  prayers  for  the  dead  and  dying  mingling 
with  the  howling  of  the  winds  and  the  creaking 
of  the  frail  wooden  hut.  Oh,  never,  never  can 
any  of  us  forget  that  night  :  the  storm  disturbed  all 
but  her,  that  happy  being  for  whom  earth's  joys 
and  sorrows  were  at  an  end,  and  whose  summons 
home  had  not  cost  her  one  pang  or  one  regret." 

They  buried  Sister  Mary  Ehzabeth  beside  Sister 
Winifred,  and  the  89th  Regiment  requested  the 
honour  of  carrying  the  coffin.  Hundreds  of  soldiers 
lined  the  way  in  triple  lines  from  the  hospital  to  the 
hut  where  the  body  lay,  and  a  procession  of  various 
nationalities  and  differing  faiths  followed  the  body 
to  its  lonely  resting  place  on  the  rocky  ledge  of 
Balaclava  heights. 

Later,  when  the  graves  of  the  two  sisters  were 
visited,  it  was  found  that  flowers  and  evergreens 
were  growing  in  that  lonely  spot,  planted  by  the  hands 
of  the  soldiers  they  had  tended.  On  the  white  cross 
of  Sister  Winifred's  grave  was  found  a  paper,  on 
which  were  written  the  following  lines  : — 


THE  ANGEL   OF  DEATH  191 

Still  green  be  the  willow  that  grows  on  the  mountain, 
And  weeps  o'er  the  grave  of  the  sister  that's  gone ; 
***** 

And  most  glorious  its  lot  to  point  out  to  the  stranger, 
The  hallowed  remains  of  the  sainted  and  blest ; 
For  those  angels  of  mercy  that  dared  every  danger 
To  bring  to  the  soldier  sweet  comfort  and  rest. 

It  was  discovered  that  these  lines  had  been  com- 
posed and  placed  there  by  one  of  Sister  Winifred's 
orderlies. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

SAILS  FOR  THE  CRIMEA  AND  GOES  UNDER  FIRE 

On  Board  the  Robert  Lowe— Siovy  of  a  Sick  Soldier — Visit  to  the 
Camp  Hospitals — Sees  Sebastopol  from  the  Trenches — Recog- 
nised and  Cheered  by  the  Soldiers — Adventurous  Ride  Back. 

The  walls  grew  weak ;  and  fast  and  hot 

Against  them  pour'd  the  ceaseless  shot, 

"With  unabating  furj'  sent, 

From  battery  to  battlement ; 

And  thunder-like  the  pealing  din 

Rose  from  each  heated  culverin  : 

And  here  and  there  some  crackling  dome 

Was  fired  before  th'  exploding  bomb." 

Byron, 

ON  May  2nd,  1855,  Florence  Nightingale, 
having  completed  six  months'  continuous 
labour  in  establishing  a  system  of  good  administra- 
tion in  the  hospitals  at  Scutari,  set  out  for  Balaclava. 
She  was  anxious  to  see  how  the  sick  and  wounded 
were  faring  at  the  actual  seat  of  war,  and  it  was 
also  her  duty  as  Superintendent  of  the  Nursing  Staff 
in  the  East  to  inspect  the  hospitals  in  the  Crimea. 

There  were    some   sad    good-byes    to   say  before 
she  quitted    the  scene  of  her  work  at  Scutari,   for 

193 


LADY    HERBERT    OF    LEA. 


[To  face  p.  192. 


SAILS  FOR   THE    CRIMEA  193 

death  would  have  claimed  many  brave  fellows  ere 
she  returned  to  her  old  post.  Sorrowful  eyes 
followed  the  gleam  of  the  familiar  lamp  as  she 
went  her  final  rounds  on  the  night  before  her 
departure,  and  heads  were  pathetically  turned  to 
catch  a  last  look  at  her  shadow  as  it  passed  on  the 
whitened  wall. 

Rarely  has  any  human  being  had  such  a  retrospect 
of  harrowing  experience  and  of  insuperable  difficulties 
overcome  as  passed  through  Florence  Nightingale's 
mind  when  she  reviewed  the  past  six  months.  The 
Barrack  Hospital  as  she  had  found  it,  crowded  with 
suffering  humanity  in  the  most  appalUng  state  of 
loathsome  neglect,  seemed  like  a  hideous  nightmare, 
scarcely  to  be  realised  in  comparison  with  the  order, 
comfort,  and  cleanliness  which  now  prevailed. 

It  was  with  a  heart  of  thankfulness  to  the  Giver 
of  all  Good  that  she  had  been  permitted  to  accomplish 
this  great  work  that  Florence  Nightingale  on  a 
bright  May  morning  stepped  aboard  the  good 
ship  Robert  Lowe  and  set  sail  for  the  Crimea.  She 
was  accompanied  by  a  staff  of  nurses  and  her  friend 
Mr.  Bracebridge,  and  by  M.  Soyer,  the  celebrated 
chef^  who  was  going  to  reform  culinary  matters 
at  the  *'  front,"  and  attended  by  her  boy  Thomas, 
a  young  drummer  who  had  abandoned  his  "  in- 
struments and  sticks,"  as  he  called  them,  to  devote 
himself  to  the  Lady-in-Chief.     No  general    in  the 

13 


194      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

field  had  a  more  devoted  aide-de-camp  than  Florence 
Nightingale  had  in  Thomas.  He  was  a  lad  of 
twelve,  full  of  life,  fun,  and  activity  and  of  amusing 
importance,  but  such  was  his  devotion  that  he 
would  have  been  cut  to  bits  ere  harm  came  near  his 
beloved  mistress. 

The  short  voyage  was  made  in  lovely  weather, 
when  the  spring  air  was  redolent  with  perfume 
and  freshness,  and  scarcely  a  ripple  moved  the  blue 
waters  of  the  Bosphorus.  Miss  Nightingale  greatly 
enjoyed  being  on  deck  as  the  vessel  glided  past 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  scenes  in  that  Eastern 
land.  There  rose  the  mosques  and  minarets  of 
Constantinople,  enveloped,  as  it  seemed,  in  golden 
vapour,  then  the  Golden  Horn  was  passed,  and 
the  European  and  Asiatic  shores  opened  out  in  a 
scene  of  Oriental  beauty.  The  picturesque  caiques 
skimmed  the  waters  like  magic  craft,  and  Miss 
Nightingale  was  fortunate  in  seeing  the  gorgeous 
flotilla  of  the  Sultan,  consisting  of  large  caiques 
brilliantly  decorated  with  gilded  and  rich  silken 
hangings,  and  manned  by  gaily  dressed  oarsmen, 
leave  the  marble  staircase  of  the  Dolmabatchke  Palace 
to  convey  the  Sultan  and  his  suite  to  the  Mosque 
of  Sultan  Mahomet,  for  it  was  Friday,  the  Turkish 
Sunday.  Fifty  guns  proclaimed  the  departure  of 
the  nautical  procession.  Then  Kullali  was  passed, 
and  the  voyagers  thought  sadly  of  the  young  sister 


SAILS  FOR   THE    CRIMEA  195 

who  had  recently  died  there  at  her  post  in  the 
hospital.  On  went  the  vessel,  past  the  Sweet 
Waters  of  Asia,  where  the  Turks  hold  high  festival, 
and  the  resorts  of  Therapia  and  Buyukdere,  until 
at  length  the  dazzling  Oriental  coast  was  almost  lost 
to  view  as  the  ship  entered  the  Black  Sea. 

However,  Miss  Nightingale's  delight  in  the  sights 
and  scenes  through  which  she  was  passing  did 
not  render  her  oblivious  to  her  fellow-passengers. 
There  were  six  hundred  soldiers  on  board  and  many 
officers  and  Government  officials.  The  second  day 
of  the  voyage,  being  Sunday,  Miss  Nightingale, 
accompanied  by  the  captain,  visited  the  lower  deck 
and  talked  with  the  soldiers,  and  having  heard  that 
there  were  some  invalids  on  board,  asked  to  see 
them.  In  passing  from  sufferer  to  sufferer,  she  at 
length  came  to  a  fever  patient  who  had  refused 
to  take  his  medicine. 

"Why  will  you  not  take  the  medicine.?"  asked 
Miss  Nightingale. 

''  Because  1  took  some  once,"  the  man  replied, 
"  and  it  made  me  sick  ;  and  I  haven't  liked  physic 
ever  since." 

"  But  if  I  give  it  to  you  myself,"  said  the  Queen 
of  Nurses  with  a  pleasant  smile,  ''  you  will  take  it, 
won't  you  } " 

The  poor  fellow  looked  very  hard  at  her  and 
replied,  "  Well,   sure  enough,  ma'am,  it  will  make 


196      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

me  sick  just  the  same."  However,  he  took  the 
draught  and  forgot  the  anticipated  consequence  as 
Miss  Nightingale  chatted  to  him  about  the  last 
engagement  he  was  in. 

The  distant  booming  of  the  cannon  in  Sebastopol 
intimated  to  the  travellers  that  they  were  nearing  their 
destination,  and  on  one  of  the  high  peaked  mountains 
they  could  plainly  see  the  Russian  picket  mounting 
guard.  An  hour  later  the  vessel  reached  the  harbour 
of  Balaclava,  which  presented  a  wonderful  sight 
with  the  numerous  great  ships  lying  at  anchor.  The 
news  had  spread  that  Miss  Nightingale  was  expected 
to  arrive  that  day,  and  the  decks  of  the  vessels 
in  harbour  were  crov/ded  with  people  anxious  to 
get  a  glimpse  of  her.  Immediately  the  Robert  Lowe 
came  to  anchor,  the  chief  medical  officer  of  the 
Balaclava  Hospital  and  other  doctors  and  officials 
came  on  board  to  welcome  Miss  Nightingale,  and 
for  an  hour  she  held  what  her  fellow-voyager, 
M.  Soyer,  facetiously  termed  "  a  floating  drawing- 
room."  Later,  Lord  Raglan,  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  British  forces,  came  to  welcome  the  illustrious 
heroine,  but  only  to  find  that  she  had  already  landed 
and  begun  her  work  of  hospital  inspection. 

Next  day,  Miss  Nightingale,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Bracebridge,  M.  Soyer,  and  an  escort  of  other  friends, 
set  out  for  the  camp  to  return  Lord  Raglan's  visit. 
She  "was  attired  simply  in  a  genteel  amazone,  or 


SAILS  FOR   THE   CRIMEA  197 

riding-habit/'  relates  M.  Soyer,  "  and  had  quite  a 
martial  air.  She  was  mounted  upon  a  very  pretty 
mare,  of  a  golden  colour,  which,  by  its  gambols 
and  caracoling,  seemed  proud  to  carry  its  noble 
charge.  The  weather  was  very  fine.  Our  cavalcade 
produced  an  extraordinary  effect  upon  the  motley 
crowd  of  all  nations  assembled  at  Balaclava, 
who  were  astonished  at  seeing  a  lady  so  well 
escorted." 

The  people  did  not,  however,  know  how  illustrious 
the  lady  was,  for  Miss  Nightingale  preserved  an 
incognito  on  her  way  to  the  camp.  At  that  time 
there  were  only  four  ladies  in  the  Crimea,  except- 
ing the  sisters  of  mercy,  who  were  never  seen  out, 
so  there  was  great  curiosity  as  the  cavalcade 
approached  headquarters  to  know  who  the  lady 
was,  and  Mr.  Bracebridge  had  to  give  evasive 
replies  to  enquiring  officers. 

Florence  Nightingale's  ride  to  camp  proved  an 
adventurous  one.  The  road  was  bad  and  not 
nearly  wide  enough  for  all  the  traffic.  Crowds  of 
many  nationalities,  together  with  a  ceaseless  stream 
of  mules,  horses,  oxen,  artillery  waggons,  cannon, 
infantry,  and  cavalry  struggled  over  the  uneven 
muddy  road,  drivers  and  officers  shouting,  horses 
kicking,  sometimes  a  waggon  overturned,  and  every- 
body in  a  state  ot  turmoil.  Miss  Nightingale's 
horse    kicked    and   pranced    in    company   with   the 


198      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

horses  of  her  escort,  and  but  for  a  cool  nerve  and 
steady  hand  she  would  certainly  have  come  to 
grief.  But  the  skill  in  horsemanship  which  she 
had  acquired  as  a  girl  amongst  the  hills  and  dales 
of  Derbyshire  now  served  her  in  good  stead,  and 
the  ride  was  accomplished  in  safety. 

The  first  halt  was  made  at  the  hospital  in  a  small 
Greek  church  at  the  village  of  Kadikoi.  After  a 
little  tour  of  inspection  Miss  Nightingale  and  her 
party  galloped  up  to  the  top  of  a  high  hill  from 
which  was  visible  a  panorama  of  the  camp,  with 
its  myriads  of  white  tents  dotted  over  the  landscape. 
Now,  indeed,  she  was  in  touch  with  that  great 
bivouac  of  warfare  which  the  wounded  at  the 
Barrack  Hospital  in  Scutari  had  raved  about  in  their 
fever  wanderings.  Upon  the  air  came  the  roar 
of  the  cannon  from  Sebastopol,  the  sound  of 
trumpets,  the  beating  of  drums,  and  the  general 
din  of  military  manoeuvres.  Around  the  martial 
plain  rose  the  rugged  heights  of  Balaclava  with 
that  valley  of  death  sacred  to  the  ''  noble  six 
hundred  "  : — 

Stormed  at  with  shot  and  shell 
Boldly  they  rode  and  well, 
Into  the  jaws  of  Death, 
Into  the  mouth  of  Hell 
Rode  the  six  hundred. 

Florence    Nightingale    sat    long    on    her    horse, 


SAILS  FOR   THE   CRIMEA  199 

gazing  afar  at  the  stirring  scene  and  then  turned 
sadly  away.  She  knew  that  hundreds  of  poor 
fellows  away  in  yonder  trenches  were  doomed  to 
swell  the  ranks  of  the  dead  and  wounded  ere  the 
siege  of  Sebastopol  was  ended. 

Proceeding  on  her  way  to  headquarters.  Miss 
Nightingale  called  to  inspect  several  of  the  small 
regimental  hospitals.  When  at  length  the  vicinity 
of  Lord  Raglan's  house  was  reached,  Mr.  Brace- 
bridge,  acting  as  advance  guard,  galloped  forward, 
to  announce  the  approach  of  the  Lady-in-Chief,  only 
to  find,  however,  that  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
who  had  not  received  intimation  of  her  coming,  was 
away.  Miss  Nightingale  having  left  a  message  of 
thanks  to  Lord  Raglan  for  his  visit  of  the  previous 
day,  now  proceeded  to  the  General  Hospital  before 
Sebastopol. 

This  hospital  contained  some  hundreds  of  sick 
and  wounded,  and  great  was  the  joy  of  the  poor 
fellows  at  receiving  a  visit  from  the  *'  good  lady 
of  Scutari,"  as  they  called  Miss  Nightingale.  When 
she  went  out  past  the  huts  to  the  cooking  en- 
campment, some  of  the  men  who  had  been  patients 
at  the  Barrack  Hospital  recognised  Miss  Nightingale 
and  gave  her  three  hearty  cheers,  followed  by  three 
times  three.  She  was  much  affected  by  such  an 
unexpected  demonstration,  and  being  on  horseback 
could    only    bow    to    the    men    by   way    of  thanks. 


200      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

The  shouts  grew  so  vociferous  that  Miss  Nightin- 
gale's horse  turned  restive,  and  one  of  her  friends 
was  obliged  to  dismount  and  lead  it  by  the  bridle 
until  the  men's  enthusiasm  had  abated. 

The  party  now  proceeded  through  the  French 
and  English  camps  which  surrounded  Sebastopol. 
Miss  Nightingale  expressed  a  wish  to  have  a  peep 
into  the  besieged  stronghold,  and  a  column  was 
formed  to  escort  her  to  a  convenient  point.  Some 
sharp  firing  was  going  on,  and  as  the  visitors 
approached  a  sentry  in  much  trepidation  begged 
them  to  dismount,  pointing  to  the  shot  and  shell 
lying  around,  and  remarking  that  a  group  of  people 
would  attract  the  enemy  to  fire  in  their  direction. 
Miss  Nightingale  laughingly  consented  to  seek  the 
shelter  of  a  stone  reboubt  where  she  could  view 
Sebastopol  through  a  telescope.  From  this  vantage 
ground  she  obtained  an  excellent  sight  of  the 
doomed  city,  being  able  to  discern  the  principal 
buildings  and  to  see  the  duel  of  shot  proceeding 
between  the  allied  armies  and  the  enemy. 

Miss  Nightingale  was  in  an  adventurous  mood, 
and  proposed  to  go  still  farther  into  the  trenches 
up  to  the  Three-Mortar  Battery.  Her  friends 
Mr.  Bracebridge,  Dr.  Anderson,  and  M.  Soyer 
were  favourable  to  her  wish,  but  the  sentry  was 
in  a  great  state  of  consternation. 

"Madam,"  said  he,  "if  anything  happens  I  call 


SAILS  FOR   THE    CRIMEA  201 

on  these  gentlemen  to  witness  that  I  did  not  fail  to 
warn  you  of  the  danger." 

'«  My  good  young  man,"  replied  Miss  Nightingale, 
''  more  dead  and  wounded  have  passed  through 
my  hands  than  I  hope  you  will  ever  see  in  the 
battlefield  during  the  whole  of  your  military  career  ; 
beheve  me,  I  have  no  fear  of  death." 

The  party  proceeded  and,  arrived  at  the  battery, 
obtained  a  near  view  of  Sebastopol.  M.  Soyer 
was  in  his  most  volatile  mood,  and  relates  that 
the  following  incident  occurred  :  ''  Before  leaving 
the  battery,  I  begged  Miss  Nightingale  as  a  favour 
to  give  me  her  hand,  which  she  did.  I  then 
requested  her  to  ascend  the  stone  rampart  next 
the  wooden  gun  carriage,  and  lastly  to  sit  upon 
the  centre  mortar,  to  which  requests  she  very 
gracefully  and  kindly  acceded."  Having  thus 
unsuspectedly  beguiled  Miss  Nightingale  into  this 
position,  the  irrepressible  Frenchman  boldly  ex- 
claimed : 

"  Gentlemen,  behold  this  amiable  lady  sitting 
fearlessly  upon  that  terrible  instrument  of  war  ! 
Behold  the  heroic  daughter  of  England— the  soldier's 
friend  !  "  All  present  shouted  "  Bravo  !  Hurrah  ! 
hurrah  !     Long  live  the  daughter  of  England." 

When  later  Lord  Raglan  was  told  of  this  in- 
cident, he  remarked  that  the  battery  mortar  ought 
to  be  called  "  the  Nightingale  mortar." 


202       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

While  in  that  elevated  position  the  heroine  was 
recognised  by  the  39th  Regiment,  and  the  men 
set  up  such  ringing  cheers  as  wakened  echoes  in 
the  caves  of  Inkerman  and  startled  the  Russians 
in  Sebastopol. 

The  sun  was  beginning  to  sink  below  the  horizon 
and  shadows  to  gather  over  the  trenches  and  forti- 
fications of  the  besieged  city  when  Miss  Nightingale 
started  on  the  return  journey.  She  and  her  party, 
proceeding  at  a  sharp  gallop  through  the  camps,  were 
overtaken  by  darkness  when  only  half-way  back 
to  Balaclava,  and  losing  their  way,  found  themselves 
in  a  Zouave  camp,  where  the  men  were  drinking 
coffee  and  singing  their  favourite  African  song. 
They  informed  the  travellers  that  brigands  were 
roaming  about,  and  that  it  was  dangerous  to  take 
the  road  after  nightfall.  However,  brigands  or 
not,  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  push  on  down 
the  deep  ravine  which  now  faced  them.  The 
road  was  so  steep  and  slippery  that  one  of  the 
gentlemen  dismounted  to  lead  Miss  Nightingale's 
horse  by  the  bridle.  When  they  halted  to  water 
the  horses,  this  gentleman  received  a  severe  blow 
in  the  face  by  coming  in  sharp  contact  in  the  dark 
with  the  head  of  Miss  Nightingale's  steed.  He 
concealed  the  injury,  though  his  face  was  streaming 
with  blood  and  his  eyes  blackened,  until  they  reached 
Balaclava  hospital,  when  the   Queen  of  Nurses  re- 


SAILS  FOR   THE   CRIMEA  203 

turned  his  kind  attention  by  helping  to  dress  his 
wounds.  Proceeding  to  the  harbour,  she  retired 
to  her  state  cabin  on  the  Robert  Lowe,  and  so  ended 
Florence  Nightingale's  adventurous  visit  to  the  camp 
hospitals  before  Sebastopol. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

STRICKEN  BY  FEVER 

Continued  Visitation  of  Hospitals — Sudden  Illness— Conveyed  to 
Sanatorium — Visit  of  Lord  Raglan — Convalescence — Accepts 
Offer  of  Lord  Ward's  Yacht — Returns  to  Scutari — Memorial 
to  Fallen  Heroes. 

Know  how  sublime  a  thing  it  is 
To  sufiEer  and  be  strong, 

Longfellow. 

NOTHING  daunted  by  the  fatiguing  journey 
to  the  camp  hospitals  at  headquarters 
related  in  the  last  chapter,  Miss  Nightingale, 
although  she  was  feeling  indisposed,  set  out  the 
next  morning  to  visit  the  General  Hospital  at 
Balaclava  and  the  Sanatorium.  She  was  accompanied 
by  the  ubiquitous  M.  Soyer,  who  was  carrying 
out  his  culinary  campaign  at  the  Crimean  hospitals, 
and  attended  by  her  faithful  boy  Thomas. 

After  spending  several  hours  inspecting  the  wards 
of  the  General  Hospital,  Miss  Nightingale  proceeded 
to  the  Sanatorium,  a  collection  of  huts  perched 
on  the   Genoese  heights   nearly  eight  hundred  feet 

204 


STRICKEN  BY  FEVER  205 

above  the  sea.  She  was  escorted  by  Mr.  Bracebridge, 
Dr.  Sutherland,  and  a  sergeant's  guard.  The 
weather  was  intensely  hot,  as  is  usual  in  the  Crimea 
during  the  month  of  May,  and  the  journey,  follow- 
ing on  the  fatigue  of  the  previous  day,  proved  a 
trying  one.  Half-way  up  the  heights,  ^  Miss 
Nightingale  stopped  to  visit  a  sick  officer  in  one 
of  the  doctor's  huts,  and  afterwards  proceeded  to 
inspect  the  Sanatorium. 

She  returned  to  Balaclava,  and  next  day  went 
to  install  three  nurses  in  the  Sanatorium ;  and 
on  her  way  up  again  visited  the  invalid  officer  in 
his  lonely  hut.  During  the  succeeding  days  she 
continued  her  inspection  of  the  hospitals  in  Bala- 
clava, and  also  removed  her  quarters  to  the  London, 
as  the  Robert  Lowe,  in  which  she  sailed,  was  ordered 

home. 

It  was  when  on  board  the  London,  while  she 
was  transacting  business  with  one  of  her  nursing 
staff,  that  Miss  Nightingale  was  suddenly  seized  with 
alarming  illness.  The  doctors  pronounced  it  to  be  J 
the  worst  form  of  Crimean  fever,  and  ordered  that 
she  should  be  immediately  taken  up  to  the  Sana- 
torium. She  was  laid  on  a  stretcher,  and  tenderly 
carried  by  sad-eyed  soldiers  through  Balaclava  and 
up  the  mountain  side  amid  general  consternation. 
Her  own  private  nurse,  Mrs.  Roberts,  attended 
her,    a    friend    held   a    large    white    umbrella    to 


2o6       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

protect  her  face  from  the  glaring  sun,  and  poor 
Thomas,  the  page-boy,  who  had  proudly  called 
hims't'lf  "  Miss  Nightingale's  man,"  followed  his 
mistress,  crying  piteously.  So  great  was  the  lament- 
ing crowd  that  it  took  an  hour  to  get  the  precious 
burden  up  to  the  heights.  A  hut  was  selected 
near  a  small  stream,  the  banks  of  which  were  gay 
with  spring  flowers,  and  there  for  the  next  few 
days  Florence  Nightingale  lay  in  a  most  critical 
condition,  assiduously  nursed  by  Mrs.  Roberts 
and  attended  by  Drs.  Henderson  and  Hadley. 

It  seemed  strange  to  every  one  that  Miss 
Nightingale,  after  passing  unscathed  through  her 
hard  labours  at  Scutari,  when  she  had  been  in 
daily  contact  with  cholera  and  fever,  should  have 
succumbed  to  diseas-e  at  Balaclava,  but  the  fatigues 
of  the  past  days,  undertaken  during  excessive  heat, 
accounted  largely  for  the  seizure,  and  some  of  her 
friends  thought  also  that  she  had  caught  infection 
when  visiting  the  sick  officer  on  her  way  up  to 
the  Sanatorium. 

Alarmist  reports  quickly  spread,  and  at  Balaclava 
it  was  currently  reported  that  Florence  Nightingale 
was  dying.  The  sad  tidings  were  told  at  the 
Barrack  Hospital  at  Scutari  amidst  the  most  pathetic 
scenes.  The  sick  men  turned  their  faces  to 
the  wall  and  (xied  like  children.  The  news  in  due 
time   reached   London,  and   the  leading  articles  in 


STRICKEN  BY  FEVER  207 

the  papers  of  the  time  show  that  the  public 
regarded  the  possible  death  of  our  heroine  as  a 
great  national  calamity.  Happily  the  suspense  was 
brief,  and  following  quickly  on  the  mournful  tidings 
came  the  glad  news  that  the  worst  symptoms  were 
passed,  and  that  in  all  human  probability  the 
precious  life  would  be  spared. 

Miss  Nightingale,  in  a  touching  bit  of  auto- 
biography, attributes  her  first  step  towards  con- 
valescence to  the  joy  caused  on  receiving  a  bunch 
of  wild-flowers. 

During  the  time  that  Miss  Nightingale  lay  in 
her  hut  on  the  Genoese  heights,  some  very  sharp 
skirmishes  were  taking  place  between  the  allied 
troops  and  the  enemy,  and  it  was  reported  that 
the  Russians  were  likely  to  attack  Balaclava  by  the 
Kamara  side.  Miss  Nightingale's  hut  being  the 
nearest  to  that  point,  would,  in  the  event  of  such 
a  plan  being  carried  out,  have  been  the  first  to  be 
attacked.  Thomas,  the  page  boy,  constituted  him- 
self guard  of  his  beloved  mistress  and  was  ready 
to  die  valiantly  in  her  defence.  It  would,  how- 
ever, be  an  injustice  to  the  Russian  troops  to 
imply  that  they  would  knowingly  have  harmed 
even  a  hair  of  Florence  Nightingale's  head.  Her 
person  was  sacred  to  friend  and  foe  alike. 

Lord  Raglan  was  deeply  concerned  at  Miss 
Nightingale's  illness,  and  as  soon  as  he  heard  from 


2o8      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  doctors  in  attendance  that  he  might  visit  her, 
rode  over  from  headquarters  for  the  purpose. 
Mrs.  Roberts,  the  nurse,  thus  related  to  M.  Soyer 
the  account  of  the  Commander-in-Chiefs  unex- 
pected call  : — 

*^  It  was  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when 
he  came.  Miss  Nightingale  was  dozing,  after  a 
very  restless  night.  We  had  a  storm  that  day,  and 
it  was  very  wet.  I  was  in  my  room  sewing  when 
two  men  on  horseback,  wrapped  in  large  gutta- 
percha cloaks  and  dripping  wet,  knocked  at  the 
door.  I  went  out,  and  one  inquired  in  which 
hut   Miss  Nightingale   resided. 

"  He  spoke  so  loud  that  I  said,  *  Hist  !  Hist ! 
don't  make  such  a  horrible  noise  as  that,  my  man,' 
at  the  same  time  making  a  sign  with  both  hands 
for  him  to  be  quiet.  He  then  repeated  his  question, 
but  not  in  so  loud  a  tone.  I  told  him  this  was 
the  hut. 

"'AH  right,'  said  he,  jumping  from  his  horse, 
and  he  was  walking  straight  in  when  I  pushed  him 
back,  asking  what  he  meant  and  whom  he  wanted. 

"  '  Miss  Nightingale,'  said  he. 

"  '  And  pray  who  are  you  } ' 

" '  Oh,  only  a  soldier,'  was  the  reply ;  *  but  I 
must  see  her — I  have  come  a  long  way — my  name 
is  Raglan — she  knows  me  very  well.' 

*'  Miss  Nightingale    overhearing  him,   called    me 


FLORENCE   NIGHTINGALE   AS   A   GIRL. 
(From  the  drawing  by  her  sister,  Lady  Verney.) 


ITo  face  p.  208. 


STRICKEN  BY  FEVER  209 

in,  saying,  ^  Oh  !  Mrs.  Roberts,  it  is  Lord  Raglan. 
Pray  tell  him  I  have  a  very  bad  fever,  and  it  will 
be  dangerous  for  him  to  come  near  me.' 

''  *  I  have  no  fear  of  fever  or  anything  else,'  said 
Lord  Raglan. 

"  And  before  I  had  time  to  turn  round,  in  came 
his  lordship.  He  took  up  a  stool,  sat  down  at 
the  foot  of  the  bed,  and  kindly  asked  Miss  Night- 
ingale how  she  was,  expressing  his  sorrow  at  her 
ilhiess,  and  thanking  and  praising  her  for  the  good 
she  had  done  for  the  troops.  He  wished  her  a 
speedy  recovery,  and  hoped  that  she  might  be  able 
to  continue  her  charitable  and  invaluable  exertions, 
so  highly  appreciated  by  every  one,  as  well  as  by 
himself. 

"  He  then  bade  Miss  Nightingale  good-bye,  and 
went  away.  As  he  was  going  out,  I  said  I  wished 
*  to  apologize.' 

" '  No  !  no  !  not  at  all,  my  dear  lady,'  said  Lord 
Raglan  ;  *  you  did  very  right ;  for  I  perceive 
that  Miss  Nightingale  has  not  yet  received  my 
letter,  in  which  I  announced  my  intention  of  paying 
her  a  visit  to-day — having  previously  inquired  of 
the  doctor  if  she  could  be  seen.'  " 

Miss  Nightingale  became  convalescent  about 
twelve  days  after  her  seizure,  and  the  doctors  were 
urgent  that  she  should  immediately  sail  for  England. 
This  our  heroine  steadfastly  declined  to  do,  feeling 

14. 


2IO      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

that  her  mission  was  not  accomplished,  and  that  she 
could  not  desert  her  post.  Although  in  a  state 
of  extreme  weakness  and  exhaustion,  she  felt  that 
time  would  accomplish  her  recovery,  and  she  decided 
to  return  in  the  meantime  to  Scutari,  with  the 
intention  of  coming  back  to  the  Crimea  to  complete 
her  work. 

A  berth  was  arranged  for  her  in  the  Jura^  and 
Miss  Nightingale  was  brought  down  from  the 
Sanatorium  upon  a  stretcher  carried  by  eight  soldiers 
and  accompanied  by  Dr.  Hadley,  Mrs.  Roberts  (the 
nurse),  several  Sisters  of  Charity  and  other  friends. 
When  the  procession  reached  the  Jura^  tackle  was 
attached  to  the  four  corners  of  the  stretcher,  and 
the  invalid  was  thus  swung  on  deck  by  means  of 
pulleys.  She  was  carefully  carried  to  the  chief 
cabin,  and  it  was  hoped  that  she  would  now  ac- 
complish the  voyage  in  comfort.  Unfortunately,  a 
disagreeable  smell  was  discovered  to  pervade  the 
Jura^  caused  by  a  number  of  horses  which  had 
recently  been  landed  from  it,  and  shortly  after  being 
brought  aboard  Miss  Nightingale  fainted.  The 
page  Thomas  was  dispatched  to  recall  Dr.  Hadley, 
who,  when  he  arrived,  ordered  that  the  illustrious 
patient  should  at  once  be  conveyed  to  another  vessel. 

Miss  Nightingale  was  temporarily  taken  to  the 
Baraguay  a'Hilliers^  until  an  order  could  be 
procured  from  the  admiral  for  another  vessel. 


STRICKEN  BY  FEVER  211 

Meantime  Lord  Ward,  afterwards  Earl  of  Dudley 
and  father  of  the  present  Lord-Lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  who  had  been  active  in  sending  help  to 
the  sick  and  wounded,  heard  with  great  concern  of 
the  inconvenience,  and  indeed  danger  to  life,  which 
Miss  Nightingale  was  suffering,  and  at  once  offered 
her  the  use  of  his  yacht,  the  New  London^  to  take 
her  to  Scutari.  Lord  Ward  further  arranged  that 
the  yacht  should  be  at  her  entire  disposal,  and  no 
one  should  be  on  board  except  his  medical  man 
and  those  whom  she  chose  to  take  with  her.  Miss 
Nightingale  was  pleased  to  accept  Lord  Ward's 
offer,  and  she  was  accordingly  conveyed  to  the 
yacht,  and  established  in  great  ease  and  comfort. 
Besides  her  personal  attendants  Miss  Nightingale 
was  accompanied  by  Mr.  Bracebridge  and  M.  Soyer. 

Before  her  departure  Lord  Raglan  visited  Miss 
Nightingale  on  board  the  New  London^  but  little 
did  she  think  that  in  a  few  short  weeks  the  brave 
commander  would  have  passed  to  the  great  majority. 
He  had  shown  himself  most  sympathetic  to  her 
mission  to  the  East,  and  had  received  her  letters 
in  regard  to  reforms  in  the  hospitals  with  attention, 
while  in  his  dispatches  to  the  Government  he  had 
paid  the  highest  tribute  to  the  value  of  her  work 
amongst  the  sick  soldiers.  During  the  period  of 
Miss  Nightingale's  convalescence,  he  sent  frequent 
inquiries  after  her  health. 


212      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Meantime,  Lord  Raglan's  difficulties  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  British  forces  were  daily 
increasing.  On  June  i8th,  1855,  the  allied  armies 
were  to  make  the  general  assault  on  Sebastopol. 
Lord  Raglan  had  proposed  to  preface  the  assault 
by  a  two  hours'  cannonade  to  silence  the  guns 
remounted  by  the  enemy  during  the  night,  but 
Pelissier,  the  French  commander,  pressed  for  an 
immediate  attack  at  daybreak^  and  Lord  Raglan 
yielded  rather  than  imperil  the  alliance.  The  result 
was  disastrous,  ending  in  the  terrible  assault  and 
repulse  of  the  British  troops  at  the  Redan.  The 
Commander-in-Chief  felt  the  failure  deeply,  and 
it  was  to  announce  this  defeat  that  he  wrote  his 
last  dispatch  to  the  Government,  June  26th.  On 
the  28th  he  breathed  his  last,  worn  out  and  dis- 
heartened by  the  gigantic  task  with  which  he  had 
been  called  to  grapple. 

Miss  Nightingale,  in  her  own  weakened  condition, 
was  deeply  affected  by  Lord  Raglan's  death.  He 
was  a  man  of  charming  and  benevolent  disposition, 
and  thoroughly  straightforward  in  all  his  dealings. 
Wellington  described  him  as  ''  a  man  who  wouldn't 
tell  a  lie  to  save  his  life."  He  had  served  under 
that  great  commander  during  half  his  career,  and 
was  proud  to  the  last,  when  he  had  to  contend  with 
much  adverse  criticism,  that  he  had  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  Wellington. 


STRICKEN  BY  FEVER  213 

Lord  Raglan  was  blamed  for  not  visiting  the 
camps  during  the  earlier  stages  of  the  Crimean 
war  and  ascertaining  the  condition  of  his  soldiers, 
whereby  much  of  the  sickness  and  misery  might 
have  been  obviated,  but  his  biographers  say  that 
this  charge,  though  not  groundless,  was  exaggerated. 
Lord  Raglan  was  a  rough  and  ready  soldier,  who 
disliked  ostentation,  and  in  this  way  many  of 
his  visits  to  the  camp  passed  almost  unnoticed. 
The  impromptu  call  which  he  made  at  Miss 
Nightingale's  hut,  already  related,  was  thoroughly 
characteristic  of  Lord  Raglan's  methods. 

Miss  Nightingale  returned  to  Scutari  a  little  more 
than  a  month  after  she  had  left  for  the  Crimea,  and 
was  received  on  landing  by  Lord  William  Paulet, 
Commandant,  Dr.  Cumming,  Inspector-General,  and 
Dr.  Macgregor,  Deputy-Inspector.  Lord  Stratford 
de  RedclifFe,  the  Ambassador,  offered  her  the  use 
of  the  British  Palace  at  Pera,  but  Miss  Nightingale 
preferred  to  use  the  house  of  the  chaplain,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Sabin,  and  there  she  made  a  good  re- 
covery under  the  care  of  solicitous  friends. 

Often  in  these  days  of  returning  strength  she 
would  stroll  beneath  the  trees  of  the  cemetery 
of  Scutari,  where  so  many  of  our  brave  men  lay. 
It  is  situated  on  a  promontory  high  above  the 
sea,  with  a  fine  outlook  over  the  Bosphorus. 
Flowers   planted    by    loving   hands   were    decking 


214      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  graves  of  many  of  her  friends  who  had 
passed  away  durhig  the  winter,  and  the  grasses 
had  begun  to  wave  above  the  deep  pits  where  the 
soldiers  lay  in  a  nameless  grave.  During  these 
walks  Miss  Nightingale  gathered  a  few  flowers  here, 
a  bunch  of  grasses  there,  and  pressed  and  dried 
them,  to  keep  in  loving  memory  of  the  brave  dead. 
They  eventually  formed  part  of  a  collection  of 
Crimean  mementoes  which  she  arranged  after  her 
return  home  to  Lea  Hurst. 

This  burying-ground  was  really  a  portion  of 
the  ancient  cem.etery  of  Scutari,  the  most  sacred 
and  celebrated  in  the  Ottoman  Empire.  Travellers 
have  described  the  weird  effect  of  the  dense  masses 
of  cypress-trees,  which  bend  and  wave  over  three 
miles  of  unnumbered  tombs,  increasing  each  year 
in  extent.  The  Turks  never  disturb  their  dead, 
and  regard  a  burying-ground  with  great  veneration, 
hence  the  ancient  and  yet  modern  character  of  the 
Scutari  cemetery,  and  the  great  extent  of  the  graves 
over  the  wide  solitude.  So  thick  are  the  cypress- 
trees  that  even  the  Oriental  sun  does  not  penetrate 
their  shade.     Byron  has  described  the  scene  as — 

The  place  of  thousand  tombs 
That  shine  beneath,  while  dark  above 
The  sad  but  living  cypress  glooms 
And  withers  not,  though  branch  and  leaf 
Are  stamped  by  an  eternal  grief. 


STRICKEN  BY  FE VER  2 1 5 

According  to  a  poetic  legend,  myriads  of  strange 
birds  hover  over  the  tombs,  or  flit  noiselessly 
from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  fairer  one  of  Marmora, 
when  they  turn  and  retrace  their  flight.  These 
birds  have  never  been  known  to  stop  or  feed, 
and  never  heard  to  sing.  They  have  a  dark 
plumage,  in  unison  with  the  sombre  cypress-trees 
over  which  they  incessantly  flit.  When  there  is 
a  storm  on  the  Bosphorus,  they  send  up  sharp 
cries  of  agony.  The  Turks  believe  that  the  weird 
birds  are  condemned  souls  who  have  lived  an  evil 
life  in  this  world,  and  are  not  permitted  to  rest 
in  a  tomb,  and  so  in  a  spirit  of  unrest  they 
wander  over  the  tombs  of  others.  One  of  the 
most  beautiful  monuments  in  the  vast  cemetery  is 
the  one  which  marks  the  grave  of  Sultan  Mahmoud's 
favourite  horse. 

The  Turkish  Government  gave  a  piece  of  ground 
adjacent  to  the  sacred  cemetery  to  serve  as  a 
burying-place  for  the  British  soldiers  who  fell  in 
the  Crimea.  And  it  was  at  the  instance  of  Miss 
Nightingale  that  a  memorial  was  erected  there  to 
the  fallen  heroes.  She  started  the  scheme  during 
her  period  of  convalescence  at  Scutari,  and  it  was 
completed  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  Some 
four  thousand  British  soldiers  lie  in  the  cemetery, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  nameless  graves  rises 
a    gleaming    column    of    marble.      The    shaft    is 


2i6      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

supported  by  four  angels  with  drooping  wings.  On 
each  side  of  the  base  is  inscribed  in  four  different 
languages  : — 

*'  THIS    MONUMENT    WAS    ERECTED    BY 

QUEEN   VICTORIA 

AND    HER    PEOPLE.'* 


CHAPTER    XIX 

CLOSE    OF  THE    WAR 

Fall  of  Sebastopol— The  Nightingale  Hospital  Fund— A  Carriage 
Accident— Last  Months  in  the  Crimea— "  The  Nightingale 
Cross  "—Presents  from  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Sultan— Sails 
for  Home. 

How  many  now  are  left  of  those  whose  serried  ranks 
Were  first  to  land  on  Eupatoria's  hostile  shore; 

Who  rushed  victoriously  up  the  Alma's  banks, 

And  won  the  primal  honours  of  that  mighty  war  ? 

Theirs  were  the  fadeless  laurels!— yet  not  theirs  alone, 

Who  bore  the  stern  privations  of  that  Eastern  camp  : — 
Scutari's  coronet  of  glory  is  thine  own, 
O  Florence  Nightingale,  dear 

Lady  with  the  Lamp. 

Major  A.  St.  John  Seally. 

THE  autumn  ot  1855  brought  the  final  act 
in  the  great  drama  of  the  Crimean  War. 
On  the  morning  of  September  8th  the  aUied  armies 
before  Sebastopol  were  ready  for  the  final  assault. 
The  day  dawned  gloriously,  and  by  five  o'clock  the 
guards  were  on  the  march  for  the  besieged  city, 
and  troops  from  all  quarters  pressed  silently  in 
the   same   direction.      The    supreme    moment   had 

217 


2i8       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

come  ;  the  long  tension  of  the  siege  was  broken, 
and  each  man  braced  him  to  the  fight  and  looked 
for  death  or  glory. 

The  elements  seemed  to  voice  the  situation.  A 
brilliant  sky  gave  the  promise  of  victory,  then 
suddenly  changed  to  storm-clouds  which  burst  in 
a  furious  tempest  as  the  batteries  opened  fire  upon 
the  doomed  city.  The  earth  groaned  and  shook 
with  the  noise  of  cannon  and  the  air  was  filled 
with  the  rattle  of  musketry.  An  hour  elapsed, 
and  then  came  the  first  shouts  of  victory.  The 
French  allies  had  captured  the  MalakhofF  and  the 
British  had  taken  the  Redan,  the  fort  which  three 
months  before  had  repulsed  the  attacking  force 
with  fearful  carnage  and  brought  Lord  Raglan  to 
a  despairing  death.  The  fight  raged  fiercely  until 
nightfall  and  ere  another  day  dawned  the  Russians 
had  retreated,  leaving  Sebastopol  in  flames. 

On  the  morning  of  September  9th  the  tidings 
spread  far  and  wide  that  the  mighty  stronghold  had 
fallen  and  the  power  of  the  enemy  was  broken. 
The  news  was  received  in  London  with  a  universal 
outburst  of  rejoicing.  The  Tower  guns  proclaimed 
the  victory,  every  arsenal  fired  its  salute,  and  the 
joy-bells  rang  from  cathedral  minster  to  the 
humblest  village  church  as  the  tidings  spread 
through  the  land.  The  long  night  of  War  was 
over,  and  white-robed  Peace  stood  on  the  threshold. 


CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR  219 

With  the  plaudits  that  rang  through  the  land 
in  honour  of  the  victorious  armies,  the  name  of 
Florence  Nightingale  was  mingled  on  every  hand. 
The  nation  was  eager  to  give  our  heroine  a  right 
royal  welcome  home,  but  she  sought  no  great 
ovation,  no  public  demonstration,  and  her  home- 
coming was  not  to  be  yet.  The  war  had  ended, 
but  the  victims  still  remained  in  hospital  ward  and 
lonely  hut,  and  as  long  as  the  wounded  needed 
her   care    Florence    Nightingale   would    not    leave 

her  post. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  Queen  and  all  classes 
of  her  people  were  eager  to  give  proof  of  the 
nation's  gratitude  to  the  noble  woman  who  had 
come  to  the  succour  of  the  soldiers  in  their  dire 
need.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Herbert  were  ap- 
proached on  the  matter  by  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall  as  to 
what  form  of  testimonial  would  be  most  acceptable 
to  Miss  Nightingale,  and  Mrs.  Herbert  replied  :— 

"  49,  Belgrave  Square, 
^^July,  1855. 

*^  Madam, — 

"  There  is  but  one  testimonial  which  would 
be  accepted  by  Miss  Nightingale. 

«*  The  one  wish  of  her  heart  has  long  been  to 
found  a  hospital  in  London  and  to  work  it  on 
her  own  system  of  unpaid  nursing,  and  I  have 
suggested  to  all  who  have  asked  for  my  advice  in 


220      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

this  matter  to  pay  any  sums  that  they  may  feel 
disposed  to  give,  or  that  they  may  be  able  to 
collect,  into  Messrs.  Coutts'  Bank,  where  a  subscrip- 
tion list  for  the  purpose  is  about  to  be  opened, 
to  be  called  the  '  Nightingale  Hospital  Fund,' 
the  sum  subscribed  to  be  presented  to  her  on  her 
return  home,  which  will  enable  her  to  carry  out 
her  object  regarding  the  reform  of  the  nursing 
system  in  England." 

A  Committee  to  inaugurate  such  a  project  was 
formed.  It  was  presided  over  by  His  Royal  High- 
ness the  late  Duke  of  Cambridge,  and  included 
representatives  of  all  classes.  The  Hon.  Mr. 
Sidney  Herbert  and  Mr.  S.  C.  Hall  acted  as 
honorary  secretaries,  and  the  latter  summarised  the 
variety  of  interests  represented  when  he  described 
the  Committee  as  having  "  three  dukes,  nine  other 
noblemen,  the  Lord  Mayor,  two  judges,  five  right 
honourables,  foremost  naval  and  military  officers, 
physicians,  lawyers,  London  aldermen,  dignitaries 
of  the  Church,  dignitaries  of  Nonconformist 
Churches,  twenty  members  of  Parliament,  and 
several  eminent  men  of  letters.'*  While  no  state 
party  was  omitted,  none  was  unduly  prominent. 
It  was  resolved  by  the  Committee  to  devote  the 
money  subscribed  to  the  Nightingale  Fund  to 
founding  an  institute   for    the  training,   sustenance, 


CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR  221 

and  protection  of  nurses  and  hospital  attendants, 
to  embrace  the  paid  and  the  unpaid,  for  whom  a 
home  should  be  provided  and  a  retreat  for  old 
age.  A  copy  of  the  resolution  was  forwarded  to 
Miss  Nightingale  at  Scutari  and  she  replied  to  Mrs. 
Herbert  in  the  following  letter  : — 

'*  Exposed  as  I  am  to  be  misinterpreted  and 
misunderstood,  in  a  field  of  action  in  which  the 
work  is  new,  complicated,  and  distant  from  many 
who  sit  in  judgment  on  it,  it  is  indeed  an  abiding 
support  to  have  such  sympathy  and  such  appreciation 
brought  home  to  me  in  the  midst  of  labours  and 
difficulties  all  but  overpowering.  I  must  add,  how- 
ever, that  my  present  work  is  such  I  would  never 
desert  for  any  other,  so  long  as  I  see  room  to 
believe  that  which  I  may  do  here  is  unfinished. 
May  I  then  beg  you  to  express  to  the  Committee 
that  I  accept  their  proposals,  provided  I  may  do  so 
on  their  understanding  of  this  great  uncertainty  as 
to  when  it  will  be  possible  for  me  to  carry  it  out }  *' 

The  gift,  indeed,  gave  Florence  Nightingale  a 
further  task  to  perform  on  her  return  home,  but 
as  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  said :  "  Miss  Nightingale 
looks  to  her  reward  from  this  country  in  having  a 
fresh  field  for  her  labours,  and  means  of  extending 
the  good  that  she  has  already  begun.  A  compliment 
cannot  be  paid  dearer  to  her  heart  than  in  giving 
her  more  work  to  do.'* 


222        LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

A  public  meeting  was  held  at  Willis's  Rooms  on 
November  29th,  1855,  to  inaugurate  the  scheme.  It 
was  presided  over  by  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  and 
addressed  by  the  venerable  Lord  Lansdowne,  Sir 
John  Pakington  (Lord  Hampton),  Monckton- 
Milnes  (Lord  Houghton),  Lord  Stanley  (Earl 
of  Derby),  the  Lord  Mayor,  the  Marquis  of 
Ripon,  Rev.  Dr.  Gumming,  and  Dr.  Gleig,  the 
Chaplain-General.  All  paid  eloquent  tributes  to 
the  work  accomplished  by  Miss  Nightingale,  but 
the  most  touching  incident  of  the  meeting  was 
when  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  read  a  letter  from  a 
friend  who  said:  "I  have  just  heard  a  pretty 
account  from  a  soldier  describing  the  comfort  it 
was  even  to  see  Florence  pass.  ^  She  would  speak 
to  one  and  another,*  he  said,  'and  nod  and  smile 
to  many  more,  but  she  could  not  do  it  to  all, 
you  know,  for  we  lay  there  by  hundreds  ;  but 
we  could  kiss  her  shadow  as  it  fell,  and  lay  our 
heads  on  the  pillow  again  content.'"  That  story 
brought  ^10,000  to  the  Nightingale  Fund,  and 
the  soldier  who  had  related  it  out  of  the  fulness 
of  his  heart  must  have  felt  a  proud  man. 

Public  meetings  in  aid  of  the  scheme  were  held 
during  the  ensuing  months  in  all  the  principal 
cities  and  towns  throughout  the  kingdom,  and 
also  in  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  including  India 
and  the  colony  in  China.     Never,  I  believe,  has  the 


CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR  223 

work  of  any  British  subject  been  so  honoured  and 
recognised  in  every  part  of  our  vast  dominions  as 
that  of  Florence  Nightingale. 

Collections  were  made  for  the  'fund*  in  churches 
and  chapels  of  varying  creeds  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  concerts  and  sales  of  work  were  got 
up  by  enthusiastic  ladies  to  help  the  subscriptions. 
As  in  the  dark  winter  of  1854-5  everybody  was 
doing  their  part  to  strengthen  Miss  Nightingale's 
hands  by  supplying  her  with  comforts  and  necessaries 
for  the  soldiers,  so  in  the  joyous  winter  of  1855-6 
people  gave  of  their  time  and  money  to  present 
the  heroine  with  means  for  inaugurating  a  scheme 
which  should  revolutionise  the  nursing  methods 
of  the  civil  and  military  hospitals,  and  render  im- 
possible the  suffering  and  misery  among  the  sick 
soldiers  which  had  characterised  the  late  war. 

There  were  no  more  enthusiastic  and  grateful 
supporters  of  the  Nightingale  Fund  than  the  brave 
**  boys "  of  the  Services.  The  officers  and  men 
of  nearly  every  regiment  and  many  of  the  vessels 
contributed  a  day's  pay. 

Books  were  opened  by  the  principal  bankers 
throughout  the  kingdom,  and  a  very  handsome 
gift  to  the  fund  came  from  M.  and  Madame 
Goldschmidt  (Jenny  Lind),  who  gave  a  concert  at 
Exeter  Hall  on  March  nth,  1856,  which  realised 
nearly    ^2,000.      M.    and    Madame   Goldschmidt 


224       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

defrayed  all  the  expenses  of  the  concert,  amounting 
to  upwards  of  £S00y  and  gave  the  gross  receipts  to 
the  Committee.  In  recognition  of  their  generosity 
a  gift  was  made  to  M.  and  Madame  Goldschmidt 
of  a  marble  bust  of  Queen  Victoria,  the  result  of 
a  private  subscription. 

In  course  of  time  the  Nightingale  fund  reached 
;^44,ooo,  and  in  evidence  of  the  widespread  interest 
which  it  evoked  the  detailed  statement  of  the 
honorary  secretaries  may  be  quoted  : — 

General  Abstract  of  Subscriptions  to  the 
Nightingale  Fund 

From  Troops  oi  all  arms  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,   including  the    Militia 

From  the  officers  and  men  of  sixty-one  ships  of 
Her  Majesty's   Navy  ...         ...         

From  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Coastguard 
service,    thirty-nine    stations         

From  the  officers  and  men  of  Her  Majesty's  Dock- 
yards at  Woolwich  and   Pembroke         

From  East  and  West  Indies,  Australia,  North 
America,  and  other  British  possessions     

From  British  residents  in  foreign  countries,  trans- 
mitted through  their  respective  ambassadors, 
consuls,   etc.  

From  provincial  cities  and  towns,  collected  and  for- 
warded by  local  committees         

From  church  or  parish  collections  in  other  towns 
and  villages,  transmitted  by  the  clergy  and  ministers 
of  various  denominations 

From  merchants,  bankers,  etc.,  connected  with  the 

City  of  London  

Carried  forward  ...        ., 26,397     2    6 


£    s. 

d. 

8,952  I 

7 

758  19 

8 

155  9 

0 

29  6 

4 

4.495  15 

6 

1,647  16 

10 

5,683  15 

4 

1,162  4 

9 

3,511  13 

6 

CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR  225 

£     s.    d. 

Brought  forward ...     26,397     2     6 

From  other  general  s  ibs'-riptions  not  included  under 
the  above  heads,  made  up  of  separate  sums  from 
one  penny  to  five  hundred  pounds 15.697   14  10 

The  contribution  ol  M.  and  Madame  Goldsrhmidt, 
being  the  gross  proceeds  of  a  concert  given  by 
them  at  Exeter  Hall  ...         ...         I1872     6     o 

Proceeds  of  sale  of  the  "Nightingale  Address"  (a 
lithographic  print  and  poem  published  at  one 
shilling),  received  from  Mrs.  F.  P.  B.  Martin     ...  53     o    o 

Proceeds  of  a  series  of  "  Twelve  Photographic  Vievs/s 
in  the  Interior  of  Sebastopol,"  by  G.  Shaw-Lefevre, 
Esq 18  18    o 

Total  ^44,039     I     4 


There  is  little  doubt  that  the  fund  would  have 
reached  the  ^50,000  which  the  Committee  had 
set  itself  to  obtain  if  Miss  Nightingale,  after  her 
return  home,  had  not  herself  brought  the  subscrip- 
tion list  to  a  close  in  order  that  public  benevolence 
might  be  diverted  to  the  fund  raised  to  help  the 
victims  of  the  devastating  inundations  in  France 
in  1857.  Miss  Nightingale  had  seen  with  great 
admiration  the  self-sacrificing  work  of  French  ladies 
and  sisters  amongst  the  soldiers  in  the  Crimea,  and 
had  been  supported  in  her  own  efforts  by  the 
sympathy  of  commanding  officers  of  the  French 
troops,  so  that  it  gave  her  pecuHar  pleasure  to 
promote  a  fund  for  helping  our  late  allies  when 
distress  came  upon  their  country. 

Meantime,  the  heroine  whose  work  had  evoked 

15 


226      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  great  outburst  of  national  gratitude  of  which 
the  Nightingale  Fund  was  the  expression,  still 
remained  in  the  East,  to  complete  her  work,  for 
though  the  fall  of  Sebastopol  had  brought  the  war 
to  an  end,  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  still 
lay  in  the  hospitals,  and  there  was  an  army  of 
occupation  in  the  Crimea  pending  the  conclusion 
of  the  peace  negotiations.  None  knew  better  than 
Miss  Nightingale  the  evils  which  beset  soldiers  in 
camp  when  the  exigencies  of  active  warfare  no 
longer  occupy  them,  and  she  now  divided  her 
attention  between  administering  to  the  sick  and  pro- 
viding recreation  and  instruction  for  the  convalescents 
and  the  soldiers  in  camp. 

As  soon  as  her  health  was  sufficiently  established 
after  the  attack  of  fever,  she  again  left  Scutari  for 
the  Crimea.  Two  new  camp  hospitals,  known  as  the 
"  Left  Wing "  and  the  "  Right  Wing,"  consisting 
of  huts,  had  been  put  up  on  the  heights  above 
Balaclava,  not  far  from  the  Sanatorium,  and  Miss 
Nightingale  established  a  staff  of  nurses  there,  and 
took  the  superintendence  of  the  nursing  department. 
She  lived  in  a  hut  consisting  of  three  rooms  with 
a  medical  store  attached,  situated  by  the  Sanatorium 
and  conveniently  near  the  new  camp  hospitals. 

Three  of  the  Roman  Catholic  sisters  who  had 
been  working  at  Scutari  accompanied  Miss  Nightin- 
gale to  the  Crimea,  and  writing  from  the  hut  en- 


CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR  227 

campment  there  to  some  of  the  sisters  who  remained 
at  Scutari,  she  says  :  "  I  want  my  '  Cardinal '  (a 
name  bestowed  on  a  valued  sister)  very  much  up 
here.  The  sisters  are  all  quite  well  and  cheerful, 
thank  God  for  it !  They  have  made  their  hut  look 
quite  tidy,  and  put  up  with  the  cold  and  incon- 
veniences with  the  utmost  self-abnegation.  Every- 
thing, even  the  ink,  freezes  in  our  hut  every  night." 

The  sisters  and  their  Chief  had  a  rough  ex- 
perience on  these  Balaclava  heights.  One  relates 
that  their  hut  was  far  from  weather-proof,  and  on 
awakening  one  morning  they  found  themselves 
covered  with  snow,  which  had  fallen  heavily  all 
night.  They  were  consoled  for  those  little  dis- 
comforts by  the  arrival  of  a  gentleman  on  horse- 
back "  bearing  the  princely  present  of  some  eggs, 
tied  up  in  a  handkerchief."  The  benefactor  was 
the  Protestant  chaplain,  and  the  sisters  returned  his 
kindness  by  washing  his  neckties.  But  alas  !  there 
was  no  flat  iron  available,  and  the  sisters,  not  to 
be  beaten,  smoothed  out  the  clerical  lawn  with  a 
teapot  filled  with  boiling  water  ! 

One  of  the  sisters  was  stricken  by  fever,  and 
Miss  Nightingale  insisted  on  nursing  her  herself 
While  watching  over  the  sick  bed  one  night,  she 
saw  a  rat  upon  the  rafters  over  the  sister's  head, 
and  taking  an  umbrella,  knocked  it  down  and  killed 
it  without  disturbing  her  patient. 


228       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Strict  Protestant  as  Miss  Nightingale  was,  she 
maintained  the  most  cordial  relations  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  nurses,  and  was  deeply  grateful  for  the  loyal 
way  in  which  they  worked  under  her.  When  the 
Rev.  Mother  who  had  come  out  with  the  sisters 
to  Scutari  returned  in  ill-health  to  England,  Miss 
Nightingale  sent  her  a  letter  of  farewell  in  which 
she  said  :  "  You  know  that  I  shall  do  everything 
I  can  for  the  sisters  whom  you  have  left  me.  I 
will  care  for  them  as  if  they  were  my  own  children. 
But  it  will  not  be  like  you.  I  do  not  presume  to 
express  praise  or  gratitude  to  you.  Rev.  Mother, 
because  it  would  look  as  though  I  thought  you 
had  done  this  work,  not  unto  God,  but  unto  me. 
You  were  far  above  me  in  fitness  for  the  general 
superintendency  in  worldly  talent  of  administration, 
and  far  more  in  the  spiritual  qualifications  which 
God  values  in  a  superior  ;  my  being  placed  over 
you  was  a  misfortune,  not  my  fault.  What  you 
have  done  for  the  work  no  one  can  ever  say.  I 
do  not  presume  to  give  you  any  other  tribute  but 
my  tears.  But  I  should  be  glad  that  the  Bishop 
of  Southwark  should  know,  and  Dr.  Manning 
[afterwards  Cardinal],  that  you  were  valued  here 
as  you  deserve,  and  that  the  gratitude  of  the  army 
is  yours." 

The  roads  over  this  mountain  district  where  Miss 
Nightingale  was    located  in  the    Crimea  were    very 


CLOSE    OF  THE    WAR  229 

uneven  and  dangerous,  and  one  day  while  driving 
to  the  hospitals  she  met  with  an  accident.  Her 
carriage  was  drawn  by  a  mule,  and  being  carelessly 
driven  by  the  attendant  over  a  large  stone,  was 
upset.  Miss  Nightingale  suffered  some  injury,  and 
one  of  the  Sisters  accompanying  her  was  severely 
wounded. 

To  prevent  the  repetition  of  such  an  accident, 
Colonel  Macmurdo  presented  Miss  Nightingale  with 
a  specially  constructed  carriage  for  her  use.  It 
is  described  as  "  being  composed  of  wood  battens 
framed  on  the  outside  and  basket-work.  In  the 
interior  it  is  lined  v/ith  a  sort  of  waterproof  canvas. 
It  has  a  fixed  head  on  the  hind  part  and  a  canopy 
running  the  full  length,  with  curtains  at  the  side 
to  enclose  the  interior.  The  front  driving  seat 
removes,  and  thus  the  whole  forms  a  sort  of  small 
tilted  waggon  with  a  welted  frame,  suspended  on  the 
back  part,  on  which  to  recline,  and  well  padded 
round  the  sides.  It  is  fitted  with  patent  breaks 
to  the  hind  wheels  so  as  to  let  it  go  gently  down 
the  steep  hills  of  the  Turkish  roads."  This  is 
the  carriage  which  after  many  vicissitudes  is  now 
preserved  at  Lea  Hurst. 

The  carriage  was  one  of  the  most  interesting 
exhibits  in  the  Nursing  Section  of  the  Victorian 
Era  Exhibition  at  Earl's  Court.  Its  preservation 
and  removal  to  this  country  are  due  to  the  excellent 


230      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

M.  Soyer,  who  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  from 
the  Crimea  rescued  it  from  the  hands  of  some 
Tartar  Jews.  Miss  Nightingale  had  left  it  behind, 
doubtless  thinking  that  it  had  served  its  purpose, 
and  being  too  modest  to  imagine  that  it  would  be 
of  special  interest  to  her  fellow-countrymen.  M. 
Soyer,  however,  saw  in  that  old  battered  vehicle  a 
precious  relic  for  future  generations,  and  hearing 
that  some  Jews  were  going  to  purchase  it  next 
day,  along  with  a  lot  of  common  carts  and  harness, 
he  obtained  permission  from  Colonel  Evans  of  the 
Light  Infantry  to  buy  the  carriage.  He  afterwards 
sent  it  to  England  by  the  Argo.  The  sketch  re- 
produced was  taken  by  Mr.  Landells,  the  artist 
representing  lihe  Illustrated  London  News  in  the 
Crimea.  The  carriage  was  an  object  of  great  public 
interest  when  it  arrived  at  Southampton  on  the 
Argo.  The  Mayor  took  charge  of  it  until  the 
arrival  of  M.  Soyer,  v/ho  had  the  extreme  pleasure 
of  restoring  it  to  its  fam^ous  owner. 

After  Miss  Nightingale  received  the  gift  of 
this  convenient  vehicle,  she  redoubled  her  exertions 
on  behalf  of  the  soldiers  still  remaining  in  the 
Crimea.  The  winter  was  severe  and  snow  lay 
thick  on  the  ground,  but  it  did  not  deter  her  from 
constantly  visiting  the  camp  hospitals,  and  she  was 
known  to  stand  for  hours  at  the  top  of  a  bleak 
rocky    mountain     near    the    hospitals,    giving    her 


CLOSE    OF  THE    WAR  231 

instructions  while  the  snow  was  falling  heavily. 
Then  in  the  bleak  dark  night  she  would  return 
down  the  perilous  mountain  road  with  no  escort 
save  the  driver.  Her  friends  remonstrated  and 
begged  her  to  avoid  such  risk  and  exposure,  but 
she  answered  by  a  smile,  which  seemed  to  say, 
"  You  may  be  right,  but  I  have  faith."  M.  Soyer 
was  so  impressed  by  the  danger  that  Miss 
Nightingale  was  incurring,  that  he  addressed,  as  he 
relates,  '*  a  letter  to  a  noble  duchess,  who  I  knew 
had  much  influence  with  her."  I  am  afraid,  how- 
ever, that  neither  the  solicitous  M.  Soyer  nor  the 
''noble  duchess"  deterred  Miss  Nightingale  from 
following  what  she  felt  to  be  the  path  of  duty. 

During  this  period  she  was  much  engaged  in 
promoting  schemes  for  the  education  and  recreation 
of  the  convalescent  soldiers  and  those  forming  the 
army  of  occupation.  She  formed  classes,  estab- 
lished little  libraries  or  "  reading  huts,"  which  were 
supplied  with  books  and  periodicals  sent  by  friends 
at  home.  Queen  Victoria  contributed  literature  and 
the  Duchess  of  Kent  sent  Miss  Nightingale  a 
useful  assortment  of  books  for  the  men.  All  the 
reading  huts  were  numerously  and  constantly 
attended,  and  Miss  Nightingale  remarked  in  her 
after  report  that  the  behaviour  of  the  men  was 
''uniformly  quiet  and  well-bred." 

Lectures    and    schoolrooms    were    established  for 


232       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  men,  both  at  Scutari  and  in  the  Crimea,  by 
various  officers  and  chaplains,  and  in  these  Miss 
Nightingale  took  a  deep  interest  and  was  herself 
instrumental  in  establishing  a  caf6  at  Inkerman, 
to  serve  as  a  counter-attraction  to  the  canteens 
where  so  much  drunkenness  prevailed.  As  she 
had  ministered  to  the  bodily  needs  of  the  men 
while  sickness  reigned,  now  she  tried  to  promote 
their  mental  and  moral  good  by  providing  them 
with  rational  means  of  occupation  and  amusement. 

With  solicitous  womanly  thought  for  the  wives 
and  mothers  at  home,  Miss  Nightingale  had  from 
the  first  encouraged  the  men  to  keep  up  com- 
munication with  their  families  by  supplying  those 
in  hospital  with  stationery,  and  stamps  and  writing 
materials  were  now  at  her  instance  supplied  to  the 
convalescent  and  other  reading  huts.  In  the  first 
months  of  the  war  the  men  had  been  allowed  to 
send  any  letters  to  Miss  Nightingale's  quarters  in 
the  Barrack  Hospital  to  be  stamped,  and  many  a 
reckless  lad  who  had  run  away  and  enlisted  was 
by  her  gentle  persuasions  prevailed  upon  to  write 
home  and  report  himself. 

Often  she  herself  had  the  painful  duty  of 
writing  to  wives  and  mothers  to  tell  of  the  death 
of  their  dear  ones,  and  several  of  these  letters  were 
published  by  the  recipients  in  journals  of  the  time, 
and  are  full  of  that  thoughful  practical  help  which 


CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR  233 

distinguished  all  the  Lady-in- Chiefs  efforts.  She 
would  send  home  little  mementoes,  the  last  book 
perhaps  which  the  dying  man  had  read,  and  would 
tell  the  bereaved  women  how  to  apply  for  their 
widow's  allowance,  send  papers  for  them  to  fill  up, 
and  in  cases  of  doubtful  identity  would  sift  matters 
to  the  bottom  to  discover  whether  such  or  such  a 
man  was  among  the  slain. 

Another  matter  of  concern  with  Miss  Nightingale 
was  to  induce  the  men  to  send  their  pay  home  to 
their  famiHes.  For  this  purpose  she  formed  at 
Scutari  an  extempore  money  order  ofBce  in  which 
she  received,  four  afternoons  in  the  month,  the 
money  of  any  soldier  who  desired  to  send  it  home 
to  his  family.  Each  month  about  ^1,000  was  sent 
home  in  small  sums  of  twenty  or  thirty  shillings, 
which  were,  by  Post  OfHce  orders  obtained  in  England, 
sent  to  their  respective  recipients.  "  This  money," 
as  Miss  Nightingale  says,  "  was  literally  so  much 
rescued  from  the  canteen  and  drunkenness.'* 

Following  her  initiative,  the  Government  during 
the  last  months  that  the  army  remained  in  the 
East  established  money  order  offices  at  Constanti- 
nople, Scutari,  Balaclava  and  headquarters,  Crimea, 
and  in  the  course  of  about  six  months,  from 
January  30th  to  July  26th,  1856,  no  less  than 
;^7 1,000  was  sent  home  by  the  men.  ''Who  will 
say  after  this,"  writes  Miss  Nightingale,  "  that  the 


234      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

soldier  must  needs  be  reckless,  drunken,  or  dis- 
orderly? "  But  it  may  be  added  that  Miss 
Nightingale's  presence  in  the  Crimea  during  the 
months  which  followed  victory,  when  ^*  Tommy" 
was  in  an  exulting  state  of  mind  and  ready  to 
drink  healths  recklessly,  and  make  each  day  an 
anniversary  of  the  fall  of  Sebastopol,  had  a  great 
moral  effect  on  the  men. 

The  Treaty  of  Peace  was  signed  at  Paris  on 
March  30th,  1856,  and  the  final  evacuation  of 
the  Crimea  took  place  on  the  following  July  I2th, 
on  which  day  General  Codrington  formally  gave 
up  Sebastopol  and  Balaclava  to  the  Russians.  Not 
until  all  the  hospitals  were  closed,  and  the  last 
remnant  of  the  British  army  was  under  sailing 
orders  for  home,  did  Florence  Nightingale  quit 
the  scene  of  her  labours.  Just  before  leaving  the 
Crimea,  she  was  amazed  to  find  that  some  fifty 
or  sixty  women,  who  had  followed  their  husbands 
to  the  Crimea  without  leave,  but  had  been  allowed 
to  remain  because  they  were  useful,  were  actually 
left  behind  before  Sebastopol  when  their  husbands' 
regiments  had  sailed.  The  poor  women  gathered 
around  Miss  Nightingale's  hut  in  great  distress, 
and  she  managed  to  induce  the  authorities  to  send 
them  home  on  a  British  ship. 

Miss  Nightingale's  last  act  before  leaving  the 
Crimea    was    to    order,    at    her    own    expense,    the 


CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR  235 

erection  of  a  monument  to  the  dead.  It  took  the 
form  of  a  monster  white  marble  cross  twenty  feet 
high,  and  was  placed  on  the  peak  of  a  mountain 
near  the  Sanatorium  abov^e  Balaclava,  and  dedicated 
to  the  memory  of  the  fallen  brave,  and  to  those 
sisters  of  her  "  Angel  Band "  who  slept  their 
last  sleep  in  that  far-away  Eastern  land.  She 
caused  it  to  be  inscribed  with  the  words, 

Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us. 
Gospodi  pomilori  nass. 

The  "  Nightingale  Cross,"  as  the  monument  came 
to  be  called,  strikes  the  eye  of  the  mariner  as  he 
crosses  the  Black  Sea,  and  to  the  British  sailor  it 
must  ever  be  an  object  to  stir  a  chivalrous  feeling  for 
the  noble  woman  who  thus  honoured  the  brave  dead. 

On  her  way  home  from  the  Crimea,  Miss 
Nightingale  called  at  Scutari,  that  place  of  appalling 
memories,  and  saw  the  final  closing  of  the  hospitals. 
The  Barrack  Hospital  had  now  been  taken  back 
by  the  Turkish  authorities,  but  the  suite  of 
rooms  which  Miss  Nightingale  had  occupied  in 
the  southern  tower  were  preserved  as  she  left  them, 
and  kept  so  for  some  years. 

The  Sultan  had  been  an  admiring  witness  of 
Miss  Nightingale's  labours,  and  presented  her  with 
a  magnificent  diamond  bracelet  as  a  farewell  gift 
and  a  mark  of  his  estimation  of  her  devotion. 


236      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Before  leaving  the  Crimea  Miss  Nightingale  had 
received  from  Queen  Victoria  a  beautiful  jewel,  for 
which  the  Prince  Consort  made  the  design.  It 
consists  of  a  St.  George's  Cross  in  red  enamel, 
on  a  white  field,  representative  of  England.  On 
the  cross  are  the  letters  V.R.,  surmounted  by  a 
crown  in  diamonds.  A  band  of  black  enamel, 
inscribed  in  gold  letters  with  the  words  ^'  Blessed 
are  the  merciful,"  surrounds  the  cross.  Palm  leaves, 
in  green  enamel,  form  a  framework  for  the  shield, 
and  on  the  blue  enamel  ribbon  which  confines  the 
palms  is  inscribed  in  letters  of  gold  "  Crimea." 
On  the  back  of  the  jewel  is  an  inscription  written 
by  Queen  Victoria,  recording  that  the  gift  was  made 
in  memory  of  services  rendered  to  her  *'  brave 
army "  by  Florence  Nightingale.  The  Govern- 
ment did  not  forget  to  officially  acknowledge  the 
work  of  the  Lady-in-Chief,  and  when  the  Treaty  of 
Peace  was  under  consideration  in  the  spring  of 
1856,  Lord  EUesmere  paid  the  following  eloquent 
tribute  to  her  services  : — 

"  My  Lords,  the  agony  of  that  time  has  become 
a  matter  of  history.  The  vegetation  of  two  suc- 
cessive springs  has  obscured  the  vestiges  of  Bala- 
clava and  of  Inkerman.  Strong  voices  now  answer 
to  the  roll-call,  and  sturdy  forms  now  cluster  round 
the  colours.  The  ranks  are  full,  the  hospitals  are 
empty.     The    angel    of  mercy   still    lingers    to  the 


CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR 


237 


last  on  the  scene  of  her  labours  ;  but  her  mission 
is  all  but  accomplished.  Those  long  arcades  of 
Scutari,  in  which  dying  men  sat  up  to  catch  the 
sound  of  her  footstep  or  the  flutter  of  her  dress, 
and  fell  back  on  the  pillow  content  to  have  seen 
her    shadow    as    it  passed,    are    now   comparatively 


THE    NIGHTINGALE   JEWEL. 


deserted.  She  may  be  thinking  how  to  escape,  as 
best  she  may,  on  her  return,  the  demonstration  of 
a  nation's  appreciation  of  the  deeds  and  motives 
of  Florence  Nightingale." 

Lord  Ellesmere  had  correctly  guessed  Miss 
Nightingale's  desire  to  escape  a  public  demon- 
stration. She  declined  the  Government's  offer  of 
a    British    man-of-war    to    convey   her    home,    and, 


238      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

embarking  at  Scutari  on  a  French  vessel,  sailed  for 
Marseilles.  She  passed  through  France  at  night, 
halted  in  Paris  to  visit  her  old  friends,  the  Sisters 
of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  and  then,  accompanied  by 
her  aunt,  Mrs.  Smith,  and  travelHng  incognito  as 
*'  Miss  Smith,"  proceeded  to  Boulogne  and  sailed 
for  dear  old  England.  What  a  life-time  of 
memories  had  been  crowded  into  those  twenty-one 
months  which  had  elapsed  since  she  had  left  on 
her  great  mission  ! 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  RETURN  OF  THE  HEROINE 

Arrives  Secretly  at  Lea  Hurst — The  Object  of  Many  Congratu- 
lations— Presentations — Received  by  Queen  Victoria  at  Bal- 
moral— Prepares  Statement  of  "Voluntary  Gifts" — Tribute 
to  Lord  Raglan. 

Then  leave  her  to  the  quiet  she  has  chosen ;  she  demands 
No  greeting  from  our  brazen  throats  and  vulgar  clai^ping  hands. 
Leave  her  to  the  still  comfort  the  saints  know  that  have  striven. 
What  are  our  earthly  honours  ?     Her  honours  are  in  heaven. 

P-unch. 

FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE,  under  a  care- 
fully preserved  incognito,  arrived  quietly  at 
Whatstandwell,  the  nearest  station  to  her  Derbyshire 
home,  on  August  8th,  1 856,  and  succeeded  in  making 
her  way  unrecognised  to  Lea  Hurst.  According 
to  local  tradition  she  entered  by  the  back  door, 
and  the  identity  of  the  closely  veiled  lady  in  black 
was  first  discovered  by  the  old  family  butler.  The 
word  quickly  circulated  round  Lea  and  the  adjacent 
villages  that  "  Miss  Florence  had  come  back  from 
the  wars,"  and  dearly  would  the  good  people  have 
liked    to  light   a  bonfire  on   Crich   Stand  or  some 

239 


240      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

other  available  height  to  testify  their  joy,  but  all 
demonstration  was  checked  by  the  knowledge  that 
Miss  Florence  wanted  to  remain  quiet. 

During  the  ensuing  weeks  hundreds  of  people 
from  the  surrounding  towns  of  Derby,  Nottingham, 
and  Manchester,  and  from  more  distant  parts, 
crowded  the  roads  to  Lea  Hurst  and  stood  in 
groups  about  the  park,  hoping  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  heroine.  '^  I  remember  the  crowds  as  if 
it  was  yesterday,"  said  an  old  lady  living  by  the 
park  gate,  "  it  took  me  all  my  time  to  answer  them. 
Folks  came  in  carriages  and  on  foot,  and  there  was 
titled  people  among  them,  and  a  lot  of  soldiers, 
some  of  them  without  arms  and  legs,  who  had 
been  nursed  by  Miss  Florence  in  the  hospital, 
and  I  remember  one  man  who  had  been  shot 
through  both  eyes  coming  and  asking  to  see 
Miss  Florence.  But  not  ten  out  of  the  hun- 
dreds who  came  got  a  glimpse  of  her.  If  they 
wanted  help  about  their  pensions,  they  were  told 
to  put  it  down  in  writing  and  Miss  Florence's 
maid  came  with  an  answer.  Of  course  she  was 
v/illing  to  help  everybody,  but  it  stood  to  reason 
she  could  not  receive  them  all  ;  why,  the  park 
wouldn't  have  held  the  folks  that  came,  and  besides, 
the  old  squire  wouldn't  have  his  daughter  made  a 
staring  stock  of" 

London    shared    the    disappointment    of    Derby- 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  HEROINE         241 

shire  in  not  being  permitted  to  give  Florence 
Nightingale  a  public  welcome,  but  the  situation 
was  realised  by  the  genial  Mr.  Punch  in  the 
sympathetic  lines  quoted  at  the  heading  of  this 
chapter. 

Fundi  had  had  his  joke  when  the  *'  dear 
Nightingales "  first  went  to  the  succour  of  the 
soldiers,  but  the  day  for  raillery  was  past ;  a  great 
humanitarian  work  had  been  accomplished,  which 
the  genial  humorist  was  quick  to  acknowledge  on 
the  return  of  the  heroine  in  a  cartoon  showing 
"  Mr.  Punch's  design  for  a  statue  to  Miss  Nightin- 
gale." It  represented  her  in  nurse's  dress,  wearing 
the  badge  ''  Scutari "  across  her  breast,  and  holding  a 
wounded  soldier  by  the  hand.  Below  was  a  scene 
portraying  the  good  Samaritan. 

The  public  interest  in  Miss  Nightingale  was 
testified  in  many  ways.  Not  only  did  platforms 
all  over  the  land  resound  with  her  praises,  but 
her  portrait  became  a  popular  advertisement  for 
tradesmen.  I  have  seen  preserved  in  the  Derby 
Town  Library  paper  bags  used  in  the  shops  of 
Henry  Calvert,  grocer,  Hulme,  the  tobacconist,  and 
Bryer,  provision  merchant,  Derby,  decorated  with 
portraits  of  Florence  Nightingale.  Playbills  dis- 
played the  heroine's  name,  beside  Romeo  and 
Juliet,  songs  and  musical  compositions  were  dedi- 
cated to  the   '*  good  angel  of  Derbyshire."     There 

16 


242       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

was  the  "  Nightingale  Varsoviana  "  and  "  The  Song 
of  the  Nightingale,"  published  with  a  full-page 
picture  of  the  heroine  on  the  cover.  Almanacks 
displayed  her  portrait  and  ballads  innumerable 
told  of  her  gentle  deeds.  Street  minstrels  found 
a  Nightingale  song  the  most  remunerative  piece 
in  their  repertoire,  and  people  who  had  hitherto 
been  guiltless  of  versifying  were  compelled  to 
satisfy  an  importunate  muse  by  writing  verses  on 
Florence  Nightingale.  Broadsheet  ballads  were 
sung  and  sold  in  the  streets,  and  the  following 
extract  is  from  one  emanating  from  Seven  Dials  : — 

When  sympathy  first  in  thy  fair  breast  did  enter, 

The  world  must  confess  'twas  a  noble  idea. 
When  through  great  danger  you  boldly  did  venture, 

To  soothe  the  afflicted  in  the  dread  Crimea. 
No  female  on  earth  sure  could  ever  be  bolder; 

When  death  and  disease  did  you  closely  surround, 
You  administered  comfort  to  the  British  soldier — 

You  soothed  his  sorrows  and  healed  his  wounds. 

Before  her  return  home  Miss  Nightingale's 
services  had  been  recognised  by  an  influential 
meeting  at  St.  George's  Hospital,  presided  over  by 
the  late  Duke  of  Cambridge.  It  was  moved  by 
Viscount  Chelsea  that  "  Miss  Nightingale  should 
be  elected  an  honorary  Governor  of  St.  George's 
Hospital  in  testimony  of  the  respectful  admiration 
felt  by  the  supporters  of  this  charity  for  her  self- 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  HEROINE  243 

denial  and  disinterestedness  and  her  devoted 
heroism."  The  Duke  of  Cambridge  spoke  of  what 
he  had  himself  seen  of  Miss  Nightingale's  work 
amongst  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  during 
his  stay  at  Scutari,  and  said  that  her  name  was 
revered  alike  by  English,  French,  Turks,  and 
Russians. 

Letters  of  congratulation  and  expressions  of 
esteem  from  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people 
poured  in  upon  Miss  Nightingale  after  it  was 
known  that  she  was  settled  in  her  Derbyshire  home, 
and  public  associations  and  societies  sent  deputa- 
tions. If  Florence  Nightingale  could  have  been 
persuaded  to  hold  a  reception,  it  would  have  been 
attended  by  delegates  from  every  representative 
body  in  the  kingdom  ;  but  while  such  a  national 
appreciation  of  her  labours  was  very  gratifying  to 
our  heroine,  her  chief  desire  now  was  to  escape 
publicity,  and  her  enfeebled  health  made  quietude 
a  necessity. 

She  was  specially  pleased  by  an  address  sent  by 
the  workmen  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and  replied 
in  the  following  beautiful  letter  : — 

^^  August  22,rd,  1856. 
"  My  Dear  Friends, — 

'^  I  wish   it  were   in   my   power  to  tell  you 
what  was  in  my  heart  when  I  received  your  letter. 


244      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

*'  Your  welcome  home,  your  sympathy  with  what 
has  been  passing  while  I  have  been  absent,  have 
touched  me  more  than  I  can  tell  in  words.  My 
dear  friends,  the  things  that  are  the  deepest  in  our 
hearts  are  perhaps  what  it  is  most  difficult  for 
us  to  express. 

"  '  She  hath  done  what  she  could/  These  words 
I  inscribed  on  the  tomb  of  one  of  my  best  helpers 
when  I  left  Scutari.  It  has  been  my  endeavour, 
in  the  sight  of  God,  to  do  as  she  has  done. 

*'  I  will  not  speak  of  reward  when  permitted 
to  do  our  country's  work — it  is  what  we  live 
for ;  but  I  may  say  to  receive  sympathy  from 
affectionate  hearts  like  yours  is  the  greatest  support, 
the  greatest  gratification,  that  it  is  possible  for  me 
to  receive  from  man. 

''  I  thank  you  all,  the  eighteen  hundred,  with 
grateful,  tender  affection.  And  1  should  have 
written  before  to  do  so,  were  not  the  business, 
which  my  return  home  has  not  ended,  been  almost 
more  than  I  can  manage.  Pray  believe  me,  my 
dear  friends,  yours  faithfully  and  gratefully. 

''  Florence  Nightingale." 

The  working  men  of  Sheffield  subscribed  a  testi- 
monial to  Miss  Nightingale  and  presented  her  with 
a  case  of  cutlery.  Each  blade,  instead  of  bearing 
the  maker's  name  in  the  customary  way,  was  stamped 


THE   RETURN   OF  THE  HEROINE  245 

with  the  words  "  Presented  to  Florence  Nightingale, 
1857."  The  oak  case  containing  the  cutlery  was 
bound  in  silver,  and  the  top  inlaid  with  a  device 
representing  the  "  Good  Samaritan,"  and  inscribed 
with  the  words  ''  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  Me." 

Another  very  interesting  and  tenderly  prized 
gift  was  a  writing-desk,  inlaid  with  pearl,  presented 
to  Miss  Nightingale  by  her  friends  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  her  Derbyshire  home.  On  the  front 
of  the  desk  was  a  silver  plate  inscribed  with  the 
words  "  Presented  to  Florence  Nightingale  on 
her  safe  arrival  at  Lea  Hurst  from  the  Crimea, 
August  8th,  1856,  as  a  token  of  esteem  from  the 
inhabitants  of  Lea,  HoUoway,  and  Crich."  Miss 
Nightingale,  on  being  told  that  her  friends  and 
neighbours  wished  to  celebrate  her  home-coming  by 
a  presentation,  requested  that  it  might  be  done  as 
privately  as  possible  ;  accordingly  a  small  deputation 
waited  on  her  at  Lea  Hurst  a  few  weeks  after 
her  arrival  and   presented   the  desk. 

Amongst  other  old  friends  whom  Miss  Nightin- 
gale received  on  her  return  home  was  the  late 
Duke  of  Devonshire,  who  drove  over  from  Chats- 
worth  to  Lea  Hurst  and  presented  his  distinguished 
neighbour  with  a  silver  owl  and  some  other  tokens 
of  his    esteem.     The    duke    caused  a  collection  of 


246      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

press  notices — there  were  no  press  cutting  agencies 
in  those  days — to  be  made  with  regard  to  Miss 
Nightingale  and  her  work  and  made  into  a 
scrap-book,  which  His  Grace  eventually  presented 
to  the  Derby  Town   Library. 

During  these  weeks,  in  which  Miss  Nightingale 
was  recruiting  her  health  at  Lea  Hurst,  she  enter- 
tained from  time  to  time  little  parties  of  her  humble 
friends  and  neighbours,  who  enjoyed  the  privilege 
of  seeing  the  mementoes  which  she  had  brought 
from  the  Crimea. 

There  are  still  living  a  few  old  people  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Lea  Hurst  who  recall  the  awe 
and  wonder  with  which  they  regarded  cannon  balls 
from  Sebastopol,  bullets  taken  from  Balaclava  heroes, 
and  other  martial  objects  in  Miss  Florence's  collection, 
and  the  emotion  they  felt  at  sight  of  the  flowers  and 
grasses  which  she  had  gathered  from  the  graves  of 
the  soldiers  in  the  cemeteries  of  Scutari  and  Bala- 
clava. Then  there  was  "  Miss  Florence's  Crimean 
dog,"  a  large  Russian  hound  which  was  the  wonder 
of  the  countryside,  second  only  in  interest  to  the 
drummer  boy  Thomas,  who  attended  his  lady  home 
from  the  war  and  was  a  very  big  person  indeed 
as  "  Miss  Nightingale's  own  man."  For  graphic 
and  thrilling  narrative  of  the  fall  of  Sebastopol, 
Thomas  could  outvie  the  special  correspondent  of 
Ihe  Times^  and  if  he  was  unavoidably  absent  from 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  HEROINE         247 

the    Balaclava    charge,    he    had    the    details    of  the 
engagement  by  heart. 

Queen  Victoria  had  taken  from  the  first  a  deep 
interest  in  Miss  Nightingale's  work,  and  was  wishful 
to  receive  and  thank  her  in  person,  while  the  young 
Princesses  were  with  natural  girlish  enthusiasm  eager 
to  see  the  heroine  of  the  war.  Accordingly,  it 
was  arranged  that  Miss  Nightingale  should  proceed 
to  Balmoral,  where  the  Queen  and  Prince  Consort 
were  spending  the  autumn.  She  arrived  in  the 
middle  of  September,  a  month  after  her  return  from 
the  Crimea,  and  was  privately  received  by  the  Queen. 
The  favourable  impression  made  by  Miss  Nightin- 
gale on  the  royal  circle  is  recorded  in  the  Life  of 
the  Prince  Consort.  One  can  imagine,  too,  the 
emotions  of  the  Crown  Princess  and  Princess  Alice, 
whose  desire  to  help  the  suffering  soldiers  had 
been  fired  by  the  visitor's  noble  work.  Both  these 
young  Princesses  were  destined  to  experience  the 
anxiety  of  the  soldier's  wife  whose  husband  is  at 
the  front,  and  both  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
Florence  Nightingale  in  organising  hospital  work 
in  the  Prussian  War  of  1866  and  in  the  Franco- 
German  War  of  1870,  while  tiny  Princess  Helena 
was  to  become  in  after  years  an  accomplished  nurse, 
and  an  active  leader  in  the  nursing  movement  of 
this  country  ;  and,  alas  !  to  yield  her  soldier  son 
on  the  fatal  field  of  South  Africa. 


248      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Miss  Nightingale  spent  several  weeks  in  the 
Highlands  as  a  guest  at  Birkhall,  near  Balmoral. 
She  was  present  at  a  dance  at  the  Castle,  and  sat 
with  the  Royal  Family  at  one  end  of  the  hall,  and 
is  described  as  looking  very  graceful  and  pleasing. 
She  wore  a  pretty  lace  cap  to  conceal  her  short  hair, 
her  abundant  tresses  having  been  cut  off  during 
her  attack  of  Crimean  fever.  On  Sundays  Miss 
Nightingale  worshipped  at  the  old  church  of 
Crathie,  and  her  sweet,  pale  face  was  aifectionately 
regarded  by  the  village  congregation,  for  there 
were  many  brave  sons  of  Scotland  whose  pains  she 
had  soothed  and  whose  dying  lips  had  blessed 
her. 

After  leaving  the  Highlands,  Miss  Nightingale 
joined  her  family  for  the  customary  stay  at  Embley 
Park,  her  Hampshire  home,  where  she  was  received 
by  the  people  with  many  expressions  of  congratula- 
tion. At  Embley  she  was  in  the  near  vicinity 
of  Wilton  House,  the  home  of  her  friends,  the 
Hon.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  Herbert,  with  whom 
there  was  much  to  discuss  regarding  the  founding 
of  the  training  home  for  nurses  to  which  the 
Nightingale  Fund  was  to  be  devoted.  The  fund 
was  the  people's  gift  to  Florence  Nightingale, 
and  continued  to  be  enthusiastically  supported 
by  private  contributions,  from  the  pennies  of  the 
poor    to    the  cheques    of  the   rich,    and    by  means 


THE  RETURN   OF  THE  HEROINE         249 

of  public  entertainments  throughout  the  winter 
which  succeeded  the  return  of  the  heroine  from 
the  Crimea. 

During  the  months  which  succeeded  her  return, 
Miss  Nightingale,  with  characteristic  business 
promptitude,  prepared  a  clear  and  comprehensive 
statement  regarding  the  "  free  gifts "  which  had 
been  sent  to  her  for  the  sick  and  wounded,  and 
in  the  latter  months  of  the  war  for  the  convalescent 
soldiers.  One  can  read  between  the  lines  of  this 
report  the  general  muddle  which  characterised  the 
transit  of  goods  from  London  to  the  seat  of  war, 
in  consequence  of  which  bales  of  things  sent  by 
benevolent  people  made  wandering  excursions 
everywhere  but  to  the  Scutari  hospitals  where  they 
were  so  urgently  wanted,  and  in  some  instances  were 
actually  brought  back  to  their  donors  unopened. 
This  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  from  May,  1854, 
when  our  army  first  encamped  at  Scutari,  until 
March,  1855,  no  office  for  the  reception  and  delivery 
of  goods  had  been  established  either  at  Scutari  or 
Constantinople.  In  consequence  packages  arriving 
by  merchant  vessels  not  chartered  by  Government 
passed  into  the  Turkish  Custom  House,  from  which 
they  were  never  extracted  without  delay  and  con- 
fusion, and  many  were  destroyed  or  lost.  In 
cases  of  ships  chartered  by  Government,  masses 
of  goods  were  delayed,  as  Miss  Nightingale  wittily 


2 so      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

remarks,  by  **  an  unnecessary  trip  to  Balaclava  and 
back  "  before  they  reached  her  at  Scutari. 

In  face  of  such  confusion  the  task  of  giving  a 
detailed  account  of  the  "free  gifts"  would  have 
hopelessly  baffled  a  less  clear  head  than  Miss 
Nightingale's.  *'  The  Statement  of  the  Voluntary 
Contributions "  which  she  had  received  for  the 
hospitals  in  the  East  was  pubhshed  in  1857, 
and  in  it  Miss  Nightingale  took  occasion  to  pay 
a  tribute  to  the  devotion  and  zeal  of  the  medical 
officers  in  the  hospitals,  who  had  been  so  handicapped 
by  the  lack  of  proper  medical  supplies  and  comforts 
in  the  early  part  of  the  campaign.  She  also  refers 
to  the  liberality  of  the  British  Government  and 
the  support  which  she  had  received  from  the  War 
Office,  and  acknowledges  the  sympathy  and  help 
received  from  various  general  and  commanding 
offixcers,  both  British  and  French,  and  pays  the 
following  tribute  to  her  old  friend  Lord  Raglan,  the 
Commander-in-Chief:  ''Miss  Nightingale  cannot  but 
here  recall,  with  deep  gratitude  and  respect,  the 
letters  of  support  and  encouragement  which  she 
received  from  the  late  Lord  Raglan,  who  invariably 
acknowledged  all  that  was  attempted  for  the  good 
of  his  men  with  the  deepest  feeling,  as  well  as 
with  the  high  courtesy  and  true  manliness  of  his 
character.  No  tinge  of  petty  jealousy  against  those 
entrusted  with  any   commission,  public   or  private, 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  HEROINE  251 

connected  with  the  army  under  his  command,  ever 
alloyed  his  generous  benevolence." 

At  this  period,  though  in  weakened  health,  Miss 
Nightingale  was  under  the  impression  that  she 
was  still  "  good  for  active  service."  When  the 
Indian  Mutiny  broke  out,  she  wrote  to  her  friend 
Lady  Canning,  the  wife  of  the  Governor-General, 
offering  to  go  out  to  organise  a  nursing  staff  for 
the  troops  in  India.  Lady  Canning  writes,  November 
r4th,  1857  :  *' Miss  Nightingale  has  written  to  me. 
She  is  out  of  health  and  at  Malvern,  but  says 
she  would  come  at  twenty-four  hours'  notice  if  I 
think  there  is  anything  for  her  to  do  in  her  '  line 
of  business.' "  Lady  Canning  did  not,  however, 
encourage  Miss  Nightingale  to  undertake  a  task 
for  which  she  had  not  the  strength,  neither  did 
she  at  that  time  see  the  practicability  of  forming 
nursing  establishments  in  the  up-country  stations 
of  India.  That  Miss  Nightingale  made  the  offer 
is  characteristic  of  her  indomitable  spirit. 


CHAPTER    XXI 

THE    SOLDIERS   FRIEND  AT  HOME 

111  Health — Unremitting  Toil — Founds  Nightingale  Training  School 
at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital — Army  Reform — Death  of  Lord 
Herbert  of  Lea — Palmerston  and  Gladstone  pay  Tributes  to  Miss 
Nightingale— Interesting  Letters — Advises  in  American  War 
and  Franco-German  War. 

Her  heart  it  means  good — for  no  bounty  she'll  take, 
She'd  lay  down  her  life  for  the  poor  soldier's  sake, 
She  prays  for  the  dying,  she  gives  peace  to   the  brave, 
She  feels  that  a  soldier  has  a  soul  to  be  saved. 
The  wounded  they  love  her,  as  it  has  been  seen. 
She's  the  soldiers'  preserver,  they  call  her  their  queen. 
May  God  give  her  strength  and  her  heart  never  fail ! 
One  of  Heaven's  best  gifts  is  Miss  Nightingale. 

Ballad  of  the  Time. 

AFTER  Miss  Nightingale's  return  from  the 
Crimea  it  was  expected  that  she  would  become 
the  active  leader  of  the  nursing  movement  which 
her  brilliant  example  had  initiated.  "  We  intend 
to  be  merciless  to  Miss  Nightingale  in  the  future," 
said  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert,  "  and  see  that  her  abilities 
are  not  allowed  to  slumber.  The  diamond  has 
shown  itself  and  must  not  be  allowed  to  return 
to  the  mine.     Miss  Nightingale  must  be  chained  to 

252 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND   AT  HOME        253 

the  oar  for  the  rest  of  her  life.  It  is  hers  to  raise 
the  system  of  nursing  to  a  pitch  of  efficiency  never 
before  known." 

Gladly  indeed  would  Miss  Nightingale  have 
started  on  the  great  work  of  nursing  reform  had 
her  health  permitted.  The  spirit  was  more  than 
willing,  it  was  eager  to  start,  but  the  flesh  was  weak. 
It  was  hoped  that  a  few  months'  rest  would  restore 
her  health,  and  that  she  would  herself  be  able  to 
organise  an  institute  for  the  training  of  hospital 
nurses,  to  which  purpose  she  proposed  to  devote 
the  Nightingale  Fund.  Unfortunately,  as  time 
passed  it  became  apparent  that  the  malady  from 
which  she  suffered  was  increasing,  and  that  she 
would  never  again  be  able  to  lead  her  old  active 
life. 

It  was  indeed  a  hard  cross  to  bear  for  a  woman 
comparatively  young  and  with  a  mind  full  of 
humanitarian  projects,  and  as  the  first  years  of 
waiting  passed  Florence  Nightingale  drank  deep 
of  the  cup  of  life's  disappointments.  But  she 
faced  the  situation  with  noble  resignation.  All 
through  the  land  were  brave  fellows  who  had 
returned  from  the  war  maimed  or  shattered  in  health, 
and  the  soldier's  nurse  showed  the  soldier's  heroism 
in  the  service  of  her  country. 

But  though  compelled  to  be  a  recluse,  not  a  day 
of  Miss  Nightingale's  time  was  passed  unoccupied. 


254      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Work,  work,  ever  work,  was  her  great  panacea. 
She  spent  a  good  deal  of  her  time  in  London,  for 
she  liked  to  be  in  the  "hum"  of  things  and 
within  easy  communication  of  kindred  spirits  in  the 
great  city. 

Her  sick-room  might  have  passed  for  an  adjunct 
of  the  War  Office,  so  filled  was  it  with  schemes 
for  army  hospital  reform  and  communications  from 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  soldiers.  Whenever 
**  Tommy"  had  a  grievance,  he  wrote  to  Miss 
Nightingale.  She  was  still  his  Lady-in-Chief,  and 
invested  in  his  mind  with  unhmited  power  and 
influence,  and  to  some  extent  he  was  not  mistaken. 
The  War  Office  authorities  had  such  a  profound 
belief  in  Miss  Nightingale's  judgment  and  dis- 
crimination that  any  recommendation  made  by  her 
received  attention.  She  was  able  to  render  help 
to  deserving  men  with  regard  to  their  pensions, 
and  in  procuring  civil  occupation  for  the  maimed 
and  disabled,  while  she  was  an  ever-helpful  friend 
to  the  widows  and  orphans,  and  by  her  influence 
obtained  grants  from  the  Patriotic  Fund  for  many 
destitute  soldiers'  families.  The  amount  of  work 
of  this  kind  which  Miss  Nightingale  did  in  the  year 
succeeding  the  war  is  incalculable. 

When  in  1854  her  name  had  first  come  before 
the  public,  nothing  was  known  of  Miss  Nightingale, 
but  now   that  it  was  understood  that  she  was  the 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME        255 

daughter  of  a  rich  and  influential  gentleman,  she 
was  overwhelmed  with  begging  letters.  These 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  she  was  forced 
to  make  a  public  protest  in  I^he  'Times  and  state 
her  inability  to  reply  to  the  letters  which  poured 
in  upon  her.  However,  let  it  be  stated  to  the 
honour  of  the  army  that  not  a  single  begging 
letter  for  money  was  ever  sent  to  Miss  Nightingale 
by  a  British  soldier. 

During  the  first  years  of  her  illness  Miss  Nightin- 
gale still  hoped  against  hope  that  she  might  be 
sufficiently  restored  to  health  as  to  be  able  to 
take  active  steps  for  the  formation  of  an  institute 
for  nurses,  and  in  1859  it  was  still  thought 
by  the  Committee  that  she  would  eventually  be 
able  to  administer  the  Nightingale  Fund,  and  it 
agreed  to  hold  the  scheme  in  abeyance.  At  this 
time  the  sum  subscribed  and  the  accumulated  in- 
terest amounted  to  ^^48,000.  After  another  year 
had  passed  and  her  health  showed  no  signs  of 
improvement,  Miss  Nightingale  entered  into  an 
arrangement  by  which  she  placed  the  money  in 
the  hands  of  trustees  for  the  training  of  hospital 
nurses.  The  net  income  of  the  fund  amounted 
to  ^1,426  and  a  Council  was  named  to  administer 
it.  Miss  Nightingale,  to  whom  the  fund  had  been 
a  personal  gift  from  the  nation,  only  reserved  to 
herself    the    power   to    give    advice.       The    Hon. 


256      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Sidney  Herbert,  shortly  to  become  Lord  Herbert 
of  Lea,  was  the  guiding  spirit  of  the  Council. 

It  was  arranged  with  Miss  Nightingale's  approval 
to  devote  two-thirds  of  the  income  to  the  mainten- 
ance and  instruction  of  nurses  at  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital,  the  probationers  engaging  to  take  service 
in  pubHc  hospitals  and  infirmaries.  The  remaining 
third  was  to  be  spent  at  King's  College  Hospital 
for  the  maintenance  and  instruction  of  midwifery 
nurses,  the  want  of  whom  was  at  that  time  much 
felt  in  the  villages  of  England. 

The  movement  thus  begun  by  Florence  Nightin- 
gale for  the  systematic  training  of  lay  hospital  nurses 
was  first  estabHshed  at  old  St.  Thomas's  Hospital, 
near  London  Bridge,  in  i860.  This  hospital  was 
one  of  the  oldest  foundations  in  the  country,  having 
been  first  established  in  1 2 1 3  as  an  "  almery " 
or  hospital  in  connection  with  the  Priory  of  Ber- 
mondsey.  It  was  later  assigned  for  the  use  of 
the  poor.  At  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries 
St.  Thomas's  was  surrendered  to  Henry  VIII.  It 
had  then  forty  beds  for  poor  people,  a  master,  six 
brethren,  and  three  lay  sisters.  Later  it  was  en- 
larged and  opened  as  a  hospital  for  the  sick  poor 
under  the  patronage  of  the  young  King  Edward  VI. 
During  the  period  of  the  Restoration  it  was  used 
as  a  military  hospital,  and  is  mentioned  in  this 
connection     by    Pepys    in    his    Diary.       In     1732 


THE  SOLDIER'S  FRIEND  AT  HOME        257 

it  was  rebuilt  and  the  grand  entrance  made  from 
Wellington  Street,  Southwark.  It  is  interesting  to 
find  that  at  this  period  each  ward  of  the  hospital 
was  under  the  care  of  a  sister  and  two  or  three 
nurses. 

In  selecting  St.  Thomas's  for  the  home  and 
training  school  of  her  pioneer  nurses,  Miss  Nightin- 
gale was  carrying  on  the  traditions  of  the  hospital, 
as  nursing  sisters  had  been  associated  with  it  from 
early  times.  It  also  specially  commended  itself 
to  her  sympathies  as  being  one  of  the  oldest  in- 
stitutions in  the  kingdom  where  the  sick  poor  could 
be  relieved.  Later,  the  hospital  was  rebuilt  in 
palatial  style  on  its  present  site  on  the  Thames 
Embankment,  and  the  Nightingale  Training  Home 
became  a  part  of  the  new  hospital. 

Meantime,  an  upper  floor  in  a  new  wing  of 
old  St.  Thomas's  was  arranged  as  the  quarters  for 
the  Nightingale  nurses.  There  was  a  separate  bed- 
room for  each  probationer,  a  common  sitting-room, 
and  two  rooms  for  the  sister-in-charge. 

In  May,  i860,  candidates  were  advertised  for,  and 
on  June  15th  the  first  fifteen  probationers  were 
admitted.  They  were  under  the  authority  of  the 
matron  and  subject  to  the  rules  of  the  hospital. 
They  were  provided  with  board  and  lodging,  re- 
ceived a  salary  of  ^10  during  the  first  year  of 
their  probation,  and  were  to  serve  as  assistant  nurses 

17 


258      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

in  the  wards  and  receive  instruction  from  the  sisters 
and  medical  officers.  At  the  end  of  a  year  those 
who  passed  examination  were  certified  as  nurses 
and  entered  into  hospital  work.  The  first  super- 
intendent of  the  Nightingale  Training  School  was 
Mrs.  Wardroper. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  experiment  four 
probationers  were  dismissed  and  others  received 
in  their  places.  Out  of  those  who  were  placed  on 
the  register  as  certified  nurses,  six  received  appoint- 
ments in  St.  Thomas's,  and  two  entered  workhouse 
infirmaries. 

It  was  an  anxious  year  for  Miss  Nightingale, 
and  many  heart-felt  prayers  went  up  from  her  sick- 
room that  the  work  might  be  successful,  while  she 
encouraged  the  young  probationers  by  friendly  chats 
and  advice.  The  Council  considered  the  result 
of  the  first  year  satisfactory,  and  the  scheme 
continued  to  steadily  work. 

It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  girls  of  England 
were  not  then  all  "  mad  to  be  nurses."  The 
profession  had  not  become  fashionable.  Mrs. 
Grundy  still  shook  her  head  over  ''  young  females  '* 
nursing  in  hospitals  and  feared  wholesale  elopements 
with  medical  students.  Parents  were  afraid  of  in- 
fection ;  the  fastidious  thought  attendance  upon 
the  sick  poor  incompatible  with  the  feelings  of  a 
lady,   and    there    was   the    conventional    idea   that 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME        259 

it  was  derogatory  to  the  position  of  a  gentlewoman 
to  enter  a  wage-earning  profession. 

Miss  Nightingale  fought  steadily  and  patiently 
against  criticism  and  prejudice,  and  now  and  again 
from  her  sick-room  came  stirring  appeals  to  the 
young  womanhood  of  England  that  they  would 
regard  the  nursing  of  the  sick  as  the  noblest  work 
to  which  they  could  devote  themselves.  "  We  hear 
so  much  of  idle  hands  and  unsatisfied  hearts," 
she  wrote,  "  and  nowhere  more  than  in  England. 
All  England  is  ringing  with  the  cry  for  '  Woman's 
Work'  and  'Woman's  Mission.'  Why  are  there 
so  few  to  do  the  work  .?  .  .  .  The  remunerative 
employment  is  there,  and  in  plenty.  The  want 
is  the  women  fit  to  take  it." 

Miss  Nightingale  then  goes  on  to  explain  the 
kind  of  training  given  to  her  nurses  at  St.  Thomas's, 
and  although  this  was  written  in  the  first  stage  of  the 
work,  when  she  was  asking  for  recruits,  it  remains 
the  basis  upon  which  the  Nightingale  Training 
School  in  the  present  palatial  St.  Thomas's  Hospital 
is  conducted. 

"We  require,"  she  writes,  "that  a  woman  be 
sober,  honest,  truthful,  without  which  there  is  no 
foundation  on  which  to*  build. 

"  We  train  her  in  habits  of  punctuality,  quietness, 
trustworthiness,  personal  neatness.  We  teach  her 
how  to    manage   the   concerns  of  a  large  ward  or 


26o      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

establishment.  We  train  her  in  dressing  wounds 
and  other  injuries,  and  in  performing  all  those 
minor  operations  which  nurses  are  called  upon  day 
and  night  to  undertake. 

*'  We  teach  her  how  to  manage  helpless  patients 
in  regard  to  moving,  changing,  feeding,  temperature, 
and  the  prevention  of  bed  sores. 

"She  has  to  make  and  apply  bandages,  line 
splints  and  the  like.  She  must  know  how  to 
make  beds  with  as  little  disturbance  as  possible  to 
their  inmates.  She  is  instructed  how  to  wait  at 
operations,  and  as  to  the  kind  of  aid  the  surgeon 
requires  at  her  hands.  She  is  taught  cooking  for 
the  sick';  the  principle  on  which  sick  wards  ought 
to  be  cleansed,  aired,  and  warmed  ;  the  management 
of  convalescents,  and  how  to  observe  sick  and 
maimed  patients,  so  as  to  give  an  intelligent  and 
truthful  account  to  the  physician  or  surgeon  in 
regard  to  the  progress  of  cases  in  the  interv^als 
between  visits — a  much  more  difficult  thing  than 
is  generally  supposed. 

''  We  do  not  seek  to  make  *  medical  women,' 
but  simply  nurses  acquainted  with  the  principle 
which  they  are  required  constantly  to  apply  at  the 
bedside.  * 

"  For  the  future  superintendent  is  added  a 
course  of  instruction  in  the  administration  of  a 
hospital,  including,   of  course,    the   linen   arrange- 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME        261 

ments  and  what  else  is  necessary  for  a  matron  to 
be  conversant  with. 

**  There  are  those  who  think  that  all  this  is 
intuitive  in  women,  that  they  are  born  so,  or,  at 
least,  that  it  comes  to  them  without  training.  To 
such  we  say,  by  all  means  send  us  as  many  such 
geniuses  as  you  can,  for  we  are  sorely  in  want  of 
them." 

While  Miss  Nightingale  was  thus  piloting  nursing 
reform  in  the  country  and  endeavouring  to  enlist 
recruits,  she  was  also  actively  engaged  in  assisting 
the  Hon.  Sidney  Herbert  in  carrying  out  his 
important  schemes  for  the  improvement  of  the 
condition  of  the  soldier,  a  work  to  which  Mr. 
Herbert  devoted  himself  most  strenuously  in  the  last 
years  of  his  life. 

Up  to  the  period  of  the  Crimean  War  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  soldier  was  utterly  neglected. 
He  was  as  a  general  rule  left  to  his  chance.  At 
hom.e  in  barracks  he  was  ill-lodged  and  ill-fed,  and 
during  active  service  was  practically  uncared  for. 
He  was  a  constant  victim  to  preventable  disease 
by  reason  of  unhealthy  camps  and  ill-managed  and 
defective  hospitals.  Fever  and  dysentery  slew 
their  tens  of  thousands.  The  mortality  returns 
showed  a  deplorable  death  rate.  Seventeen  out 
of  every  thousand  soldiers  died  annually  at  home  as 
against  eight  in  every  thousand  of  civilians.     It  was 


262      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

calculated  at  this  period  that  of  every  two  soldiers 
who  died,  one  died  from  causes  which  a  proper 
attention  to  his  surroundings  would  have  removed. 

Miss  Nightingale  had  probably  the  best  first- 
hand knowledge  of  any  person  in  the  country  of 
the  ills  to  which  the  soldiers  in  camp  and  hospital 
were  subjected  during  active  warfare,  and  the 
wealth  of  her  experience  and  knowledge  were  given 
to  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  when  he  started  on  his 
campaign  of  reform. 

We  have  already  seen  the  marvellous  change 
which  Miss  Nightingale  had  been  instrumental  in 
bringing  about  in  the'  military  hospitals  in  the 
East,  and  the  useful  work  she  had  accomplished 
during  the  last  months  in  the  Crimea  by  providing 
useful  occupation  and  recreation  for  the  convalescent 
soldiers  and  the  men  in  camp,  and  by  furthering 
reforms  in  the  cooking  and  diet  of  the  soldiers. 
The  war  was  ended,  the  army  was  home  again,  and 
it  now  remained  to  see  that  the  men  who  took 
up  arms  for  their  country  should  have  their  lives 
protected  by  the  ordinary  rules  of  health  and  sanita- 
tion, and  that  they  should  be  educated,  encouraged  to 
live  like  self-respecting  citizens  of  the  Empire  for 
which  they  fought,  and  that  their  wives  and  children 
should  be  cared  for.  Our  heroine  was  not  actuated 
by  mere  passing  emotions  easily  roused  and  as 
readily  quieted.    Florence  Nightingale  had  sacrificed 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME      263 

her  own  health  to  cure  the  ills  arising  from  the 
soldiers'  neglected  condition  and  now  turned  her 
attention  to  prevention. 

The  horrors  of  the  Crimean  War  impelled  Sidney- 
Herbert  to  concentrate  his  attention  on  army 
reform,  a  matter  upon  which  he  had  been  engaged 
before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  Now  [he  returned 
to  it  with  redoubled  vigour.  Barracks  as  well  as 
hospitals  must  be  reorganised,  the  soldier  preserved 
in  health  as  well  as  tended  in  sickness.  There 
must  be  good  sanitary  regulations,  improved  military 
cookery,  and  the  soldier  must  have  some  enjoy- 
ment in  life. 

Mr.  Sydney  Herbert  had  to  endure  his  share  of 
blame  with  the  other  members  of  Lord  Aberdeen's 
Government  for  the  terrible  sufferings  of  the  troops 
during  the  Crimean  War,  but  for  which  in  the  light 
of  history  no  one  seemed  less  to  blame  than  he, 
if  blame  there  was,  and  he  atoned  for  it  now  by 
a  long  penance  of  work  for  the  good  of  the  soldier. 
For  every  man  who  had  perished  in  those  bitter 
trenches  before  Sebastopol,  died  in  the  ill-fed  camps 
of  hunger  or  disease,  or  groaned  his  life  away  in 
the  crowded  and  pestilential  hospitals,  Sidney  Herbert 
saved  at  least  the  life  of  one  British  soldier  by 
his  labours. 

He  was  the  mainspring  of  the  Royal  Commission 
which,   after   the   return   of    the   troops   from   the 


264      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Crimea,  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  sanitary- 
condition  of  the  army,  and  on  his  suggestion  and 
with  his  assistance  four  supplementary  Commissions 
were  issued  on  the  subjects  of  Hospitals  and  Barracks, 
Army  Medical  Department,  Army  Medical  Statistics, 
and  on  a  Medical  School  at  Chatham,  and  he  drafted 
the  code  of  regulations  for  the  Army  Medical 
Department  which  appeared  in  October,  1859. 

With  the  return  of  Lord  Palmerston  to  power 
in  the  summer  of  that  year,  Sidney  Herbert  again 
took  office  as  Secretary  for  War.  He  now  laboured 
more  assiduously  than  ever  in  army  reform,  and 
in  the  furthering  of  those  schemes  which  he  had 
been  compelled  to  abandon  on  the  outbreak  of 
hostilities.  To  his  efforts  were  due  the  con- 
stitution of  the  militia,  the  reconstruction  of  the 
artillery  system,  the  amalgamation  of  the  Indian 
and  the  general  forces,  and  the  consolidation  of 
what  were  then  the  ^'  new  "  volunteers.  At  Alder- 
shot  he  established  instruction  in  barrack  and  hospital 
cookery,  and  in  place  of  that  peculiar  method  which 
required  that  the  soldier  should  fit  his  foot  to  the 
boot,  had  the  machinery  of  the  boot-factory  con- 
structed to  secure  a  variety  of  sizes  to  suit  different 
feet,  thereby  adding  to  the  comfort  and  marching 
power  of  the  troops. 

Sidney  Herbert  began  the  overv/helming  task  of 
reorganising  the  War  Office,  but  the  strain  of  work 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME      265 

unfortunately  compelled  him  to  retire  from  active 
official  position,  and  in  1859  he  accepted  a  peerage 
and  entered  the  House  of  Lords  as  Baron  Herbert 
of  Lea. 

Lord  Herbert  still  continued  his  efforts  on  behalf 
of  bettering  the  condition  of  the  soldier  morally 
and  physically,  but  his  beneficent  career  was  soon 
to  be  cut  short.  To  the  deep  regret  of  all  classes 
in  the  country  Lord  Herbert  of  Lea  died  on 
August  2nd,  1 861,  at  Wilton  House,  Salisbury. 
Just  before  his  death  he  had  reformed  the  Hospital 
Corps,  and  the  very  day  on  which  he  died  saw  the 
opening  of  the  General  Hospital  at  Woolwich,  which 
had  been  planned  under  his  auspices  as  a  model  of 
what  a  military  hospital  should  be.  It  was  ulti- 
mately transformed  into  the  present  magnificent 
building,  on  which  Queen  Victoria  fittingly  bestowed 
the  name  of  the  Herbert  Hospital. 

Next  to  his  devoted  widow  and  children  there 
was  no  one  who  felt  more  keenly  the  loss  of  Lord 
Herbert  of  Lea  than  Florence  Nightingale.  To 
his  inspiration  and  support  she  owed  in  great 
measure  the  success  of  her  mission  to  the  Eastern 
hospitals,  and  since  her  return  she  had  laboured 
with  him  to  promote  the  betterment  of  the  soldier's 
condition.  How  much  the  nation  really  owes  to 
Miss  Nightingale  for  her  labours  in  the  sanitary 
and    educational   reform    of  the   army   during   the 


266      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

years  1857-60  in  which,  though  a  prisoner  in  her 
sick-room,  she  toiled  with  Lord  Herbert,  will  not 
be  known  until  the  private  records  of  that  period 
are  published.  At  the  request  of  the  War  Office 
she  drew  up  an  exhaustive  and  confidential  report 
on  the  working  of  the  Army  Medical  Department 
in  the  Crimea,  which  materially  assisted  in  the  re- 
organisation of  the  medical  branch  of  the  service 
then  taking  place. 

In  writing  on  "  The  Sanitary  Condition  of  the 
Army "  in  l^he  Westminster  Review  for  January, 
1859,  Lord  Herbert  frequently  quotes  the  opinions 
of  Miss  Nightingale,  based  on  her  experiences  of 
the  defects  of  the  military  hospitals'  nursing  system, 
and  mentions  her  recommendations  for  reform. 

Her  services  and  advice  were  not  only  highly 
valued  by  Lord  Herbert,  but  were  acknowledged 
by  the  first  statesmen  of  the  day.  In  the  tributes 
paid  to  the  memory  of  Lord  Herbert  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  the  name  of  Florence  Nightingale  was 
coupled  with  his  in  the  work  of  army  reform. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Willis's  Rooms  on  November 
28th,  1 86 1,  to  consider  the  erection  of  a  memorial 
in  London  to  Lord  Herbert  of  Lea,  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  then  Prime  Minister,  speaking  of  the  work 
in  army  reform  accomplished  by  Lord  Herbert, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Duke  of  Cambridge, 
Commander-in-Chief,  said  :  "  There  were  not  only 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME      267 

two  ;  there  was  a  third  engaged  in  these  honourable 
exertions,  and  Miss  Nightingale,  though  a  volunteer 
in  the  service,  acted  with  all  the  zeal  of  a  volunteer 
and  was   greatly  assistant." 

Mr.  Gladstone,  then  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
followed  with  a  similar  appreciation.  Referring  to 
the  above  remarks  of  Lord  Palmerston,  he  said  : 
«*  My  noble  friend  who  moved  the  first  resolution 
directed  attention  to  one  name  in  particular  that 
ought  never  to  be  mentioned  with  any  elaborate 
attempt  at  eulogy  ;  for  the  name  of  Miss  Nightin- 
gale by  its  own  unaided  power  becomes  a  talisman 
to  all  her  fellow-countrymen." 

Mr.  Gladstone  then  proceeded  to  summarise  the 
work  of  Lord  Herbert  in  which  our  heroine  had 
so  signally  helped.  *' To  him  we  owe  the  Com- 
mission for  Inquiry  into  Barracks  and  Hospitals,  to 
him  we  are  indebted  for  the  reorganisation  of  the 
Medical  Department  of  the  Army.  To  him  we  owe 
the  Commission  of  Inquiry  into  and  remodelling  the 
medical  education  of  the  army.  And  lastly  we  owe 
him  the  Commission  for  presenting  to  the  public  the 
vital  statistics  of  the  army  in  such  a  form,  from 
time  to  time,  that  the  great  and  living  facts  of  the 
subjects  are  brought  to  view." 

Such  was  the  perfect  knight,  the  gallant  gentleman, 
and  the  high-souled  reformer  whose  loss  Florence 
Nightingale  now  deplored.       From    her   sick-room 


268      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

she  followed  with  interest  the  schemes  to  honour 
his  memory.  It  was  proposed  to  erect  his  statue 
outside  the  War  Office  in  Pall  Mall,  and  to  endow 
an  exhibition  of  gold  medals  in  connection  with 
the  Army  Medical  School  at  Chatham,  which  had 
been  founded  under  his  auspices.  At  Salisbury, 
the  city  where  the  names  of  Lord  and  Lady  Herbert 
were  household  words  as  benefactors  to  the  sick 
and  distressed,  a  public  meeting  was  held  to  promote 
a  fund  for  erecting  a  bronze  statue  to  Lord  Herbert 
and  for  the  support  of  a  Convalescent  Hospital  at 
Charmouth  as  a  branch  of  the  Salisbury  Hospital, 
to  which  he  had  been  such  a  liberal  benefactor. 

Miss  Nightingale  had  also  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  the  reforms  at  which  she  had  laboured 
with  him  were  already  bearing  fruit.  This  was 
being  demonstrated  in  China  at  this  time  (1860-64) 
where  General  Gordon  was  waging  war  against  the 
Taiping  Rebellion.  While,  during  the  first  seven 
months  of  the  Crimean  War,  the  mortality  amongst 
the  soldiers  had  been  at  the  alarming  rate  of  sixty-one 
in  every  hundred  per  annum,  exclusive  of  those  killed 
in  action,  in  the  Chinese  campaign,  when  the  army  had 
been  sent  half  across  the  globe  to  an  unhealthy  country, 
the  death-rate,  including  the  wounded,  was  little 
more  than  three  men  in  every  hundred  per  annum, 
while  the  loss  of  those  killed  in  action  amounted  to 
less  than  six  men  in  every  hundred  per  annum. 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME        269 

But  now  her  chief  was  gone,  cut  off  in  the  prime 
ot  his  manhood,  and  at  the  pinnacle  of  public 
estimation  and  usefulness,  and  Miss  Nightingale's 
usually  hopeful  spirit  grew  despondent.  The  fol- 
lowing letter,  written  fourteen  months  after  Lord 
Herbert's  death,  reveals  how  sorely  she  was  suffering 
in  body  and  in  spirit.     She  writes  : — 

"  October  22nd,  186 1. 

^*  Dear  Sir, — 

"...  In  answer  to  your  kind  inquiry, 
I  have  passed  the  last  four  years  between  four  walls, 
only  varied  to  other  four  walls  once  a  year  ;  and 
I  believe  there  is  no  prospect  but  of  my  health 
becoming  ever  worse  and  worse  till  the  hour  of 
my  release.  But  I  have  never  ceased,  during  one 
waking  hour  since  my  return  to  England  five 
years  ago,  labouring  for  the  welfare  of  the  army 
at  home,  as  I  did  abroad,  and  no  hour  have  I  given 
to  friendship  or  amusement  during  that  time  but 
all  to  work.  To  that  work  the  death  of  my  dear 
chief,  Sidney  Herbert,  has  been  a  fatal  blow.  I 
assure  you  it  is  always  a  support-giving  strength 
to  me  to  find  a  national  sympathy  with  the  army 
and  our  efforts  for  it — such  a  sympathy  as  you 
express. 

"  Believe  me,  dear  sir, 

'*  Sincerely  yours, 

"Florence  Nightingale.'* 


270      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Happily  the  succeeding  years  brought  some 
improvement  in  health,  and  the  gloomy  forebodings 
of  this  letter  were  not  realised.  After  her  recovery 
from  the  shock  occasioned  by  Lord  Herbert's  death. 
Miss  Nightingale  continued  to  give  her  experience 
and  advice  in  m.atters  of  army  and  hospital  reform 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  She  had  correspondents 
in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  the  builders  of  hospitals 
and  pioneers  in  nursing  and  sanitary  reforms  all 
drew  from  the  fount  of  her  practical  knowledge. 

She  took  a  deep  and  sympathetic  interest  in  the 
Italian  War  for  Liberty,  for  she  had  herself  been 
born  on  Italian  soil,  and  felt  something  of  the 
patriot's  spirit  as  she  followed  the  progress  of 
the  Italian  arms  both  in  the  struggle  for  independence 
and  in  the  Austro-Prussian  War  of  1866. 

In  response  to  a  request  in  1866  from  Cavaliere 
Sebastiano  Fenzi,  one  of  the  committee  for  organising 
a  system  of  volunteer  assistance  to  the  hospital 
department  of  the  Italian  army,  that  she  would 
come  to  Florence  to  give  advice  and  personal 
superintendence.  Miss  Nightingale  replied  giving  a 
lengthy  series  of  recommendations.  We  quote  the 
conclusion  of  the  letter  for  its  personal  interest  : — 

*'Thus  far,"  writes  Miss  Nightingale,  "I  have 
given  dry  advice  as  drily  as  I  could.  But  you  must 
permit  me  to  say  that  if  there  is  anything  I  could 
do  for  you  at  any  time,  and  you  would  command 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME        271 

me,  I  should  esteem  it  the  greatest  honour  and 
pleasure.  I  am  a  hopeless  invalid,  entirely  a  prisoner 
to  my  room,  and  overwhelmed  with  business. 
Otherwise  how  gladly  would  I  answer  to  your  call 
and  come  and  do  my  little  best  for  you  in  the 
dear  city  where  I  was  born.  If  the  giving  my 
miserable  life  could  hasten  your  success  but  by 
half  an  hour,  how  gladly  would  I  give  it.  But 
you  will  not  want  for  success  or  for  martyrs,  or 
for  volunteers  or  for  soldiers. 

*'  Our  old  General,  Lord  Clyde  (he  is  dead  now), 
was  standing  at  the  port  of  Balaclava  when,  eleven 
years  ago,  the  Italian  Bersagliere  were  landing  ; 
and  he  turned  round  and  said  to  his  companion 
(a  man  high  in  office),  '  I  wish  to  hide  m.y  face — 
I  blush  for  ourselves  when  I  see  the  perfect  way 
in  which  those  glorious  troops  are  brought  up  to 
their  work.'  And  what  have  not  the  Italians  done 
since,  in  those  eleven  years  } — the  work  of  almost 
eleven  centuries ! 

''  I,  too,  remember  the  Italian  (Sardinian)  hospitals 
on  the  heights  of  Balaclava,  and  their  admirable 
government  ;  and  since  then  what  has  not  the 
progress  been?  I  wish  you  God-speed  with  my 
whole  heart,  and  by  that  you  will  believe  me,  sir, 
your  ever  faithful  servant, 

^'  Florence  Nightingale." 

"  Cavaliere  Sebastiano  Fenzif  Florence,^'' 


272      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Miss  Nightingale  would  certainly  have  been 
cheered  in  her  sick-room  if  she  could  have  seen 
the  enthusiasm  and  emotion  excited  in  her  native 
city  when  her  letter  was  read  to  the  people. 

The  United  States,  which  has  to-day  such  an 
efficient  organisation  for  the  succour  of  the  sick 
and  wounded  soldiers,  owes  the  inception  of  the 
movement  to  Florence  Nightingale.  When  the 
American  Civil  War  broke  out  in  i860,  her  name 
had  become  a  talisman  not  only  to  her  fellow- 
countrymen,  but  to  English-speaking  people  all 
over  the  world,  and  to  her  example  the  women  of 
the  United  States  looked  when  their  land  became 
devastated  by  war.  Soon  after  the  outbreak  of 
hostilities,  women  in  the  leading  cities  of  the  States 
formed  themselves  into  working  parties  to  provide 
lint  and  bandages  and  suitable  clothing  for  the 
suffering  soldiery.  But  as  the  colossal  needs  of 
the  regiments  being  formed  all  over  the  States 
became  apparent,  a  special  Sanitary  Commission  was, 
at  the  instance  of  various  Medical  and  Relief 
Associations,  founded  by  the  Secretary  of  W^ar  to 
deal  with  the  sick  and  wounded  in  hospital  and 
camp.  Hundreds  of  women  volunteered  as  nurses, 
and  in  time  a  most  efficient  organisation  was  built 

The  observations  and  advice  of  Miss  Nightingale 
were  continually  laid  before  this  Commission,   and 


MISS    NIGHTINGALE   AFTER    HER    RETURN    FROM    THE   CRIMEA. 

{Pliolo  by  Keene,  Derby.) 

[To  face  /!>.  272. 


THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND  AT  HOME      273 

her  name  became  almost  as  much  a  household 
word  in  the  States  as  at  home.  She  was  regarded 
as  the  great  friend  of  the  American  soldiers  and 
the  beneficent  genius  of  their  hospitals.  Had 
Miss  Nightingale  been  in  a  more  robust  state  of 
health,  there  is  little  doubt  that  she  would  have 
visited  America  during  this  great  crisis,  to  give  per- 
sonal help  in  the  initial  work  of  the  establishment 
of  army  nursing. 

About  this  period,  also,  the  seed  of  her'  example 
bore  fruit  in  the  establishment  of  the  Red  Cross 
Society,  the  branches  of  which  to-day  cover  the 
civiHsed  world.  The  honour  of  the  inception 
belongs  to  M.  Henri  Dunant,  a  citizen  of 
Geneva,  who,  appalled  by  the  fearful  carnage  and 
disease  among  the  soldiery  in  the  Italian  campaign, 
succeeded  in  drawing  together  an  International  Con- 
gress at  the  city  of  Geneva  on  October  26th,  1863, 
to  consider  how  a  neutral  body  might  be  formed 
for  the  relief  of  the  wounded  in  battle.  The  result 
of  Henri  Dunant's  grand  scheme  was  the  extension 
of  the  work  begun  by  Florence  Nightingale  in 
the  Crimea  over  the  entire  Continent  of  Europe  by 
means  of  the  Red  Cross  Societies,  which  act  in 
close  relationship  with  their  respective  Governments 
and  in  conjunction  with  the  army. 

The  work  thus  begun  spread  rapidly  when  that 
most   sanguinary   struggle    of   modern    times,    the 

18 


2  74      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Franco-German  War,  broke  out  in  1870.  During 
that  period  Miss  Nightingale's  advice  was  repeatedly 
sought  and  she  was  specially  appealed  to  by  the 
German  authorities  when  organising  their  medical 
and  nursing  corps. 


CHAPTER    XXII 

WISDOM  FROM   THE    QUEEN   OF  NURSES 

Literary  Activity — Notes  on  Hospitals — Notes  on  Nursing— Hints 
for  the  Amateur  Nurse — Interest  in  the  Army  in  India — 
Writings  on  Indian  Reforms, 

This  noble  ensample  to  his  sheep  he  gaf, 

That  first  he  wroughte  and  afterward  he  taught. 

Chaucer. 

IN  the  years  succeeding  her  return  from  the 
Crimea  Miss  Nightingale,  in  addition  to  the 
important  labours  recorded  in  the  foregoing 
chapter,  was  actively  engaged  with  her  pen.  Her 
writings  dealt  with  the  subjects  so  near  her  heart 
of  hospital  reform,  sick  nursing  and  household 
sanitation.  If  the  soldier  needed  hygienic  reforms 
in  barracks  and  camps,  so  did  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  in  their  own  homes.  Miss  Nightingale's 
interest  in  army  reform  did  not  absorb  her  atten- 
tion to  the  neglect  of  civil  matters. 

Her  writings  are  distinguished  not  only  by 
expert  and  technical  knowledge,  but  by  much  homely 
practical  wisdom.  There  is  nothing  of  the  blue- 
stocking   about    Florence   Nightingale.       She   puts 

27S 


276      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

aside  formulas,  and  with  tender  human  feeling, 
enlivened  by  witty  epigram  and  racy  humour,  goes 
right  to  the  heart  of  her  subject,  particularly  in 
regard  to  the  needs  and  management  of  the 
sick. 

Her  first  published  work  after  her  return  home 
was  a  statistical  account  of  her  distribution  of  the 
"Voluntary  Contributions,"  placed  at  her  disposal 
for  the  sick  soldiers,  which  has  already  been  dealt 
with.  In  the  following  year  (1858)  she  issued  her 
Notes  on  Matters  affecting  the  Health,  Efficiency, 
and  Hospital  Administration  of  the  British  Army^ 
which  was  of  great  value  to  the  Commission  on 
the  War,  then  sitting,  and  led  to  the  institution  of 
many  reforms. 

In  1859  Miss  Nightingale  published  her  Notes 
on  Hospitals^  the  basis  of  which  was  a  paper  she 
prepared  for  the  Social  Science  Association.  "  It 
may  seem  a  strange  principle,"  she  writes  with  grim 
humour,  "  to  enunciate  as  the  very  first  requirement 
in  a  hospital  that  it  should  do  the  sick  no  harm. 
It  is  quite  necessary,  nevertheless,  to  lay  down  such 
a  principle,  because  the  actual  mortahty  in  hospitals, 
especially  in  those  of  large  crowded  cities,  is  very 
much  higher  than  any  calculation  founded  on  the 
mortality  of  the  same  class  of  diseases  among  patients 
treated  out  <?/ hospital  would  lead  us  to  expect." 

It  was  the  knowledge  of  this  unsatisfactory  fact 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  277 

which  led  Miss  Nightingale  to  thoroughly  in- 
vestigate the  influence  which  hospital  construction 
exercised  on  the  death-rate  of  patients  received  into 
the  wards.  The  result  was  her  Notes  on  Hospitals^ 
which  in  the  enlarged  edition,  published  in  1863, 
became  a  standard  work  on  the  subject.  It  is 
technical  in  character,  and,  in  addition  to  recom- 
mendations on  the  conduct  and  arrangements  of 
hospitals,  gives  plans  for  hospital  construction.  It 
covers  the  whole  field  from  floors  and  walls  to 
hospital  furniture. 

In  the  following  year  of  i860  came  that  ever 
popular  book,  Notes  on  Nursing  :  JVhat  it  Isy  and 
What  it  is  Not^  of  which  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  copies  have  been  sold.  In  it  Miss  Nightin- 
gale gives  such  homely  advice  as  can  be  put  into 
practice  by  every  girl  and  woman  in  the  land.  The 
subject  is  always  topical,  and  I  cannot  do  better  than 
cull  some  of  the  words  of  wisdom  from  the  Queen 
of  Nurses. 

The  NoteSy  she  explains,  are  not  intended  as  a 
manual  for  nurses  but  simply  to  give  hints  for 
thought  to  women  who  have  personal  charge  of 
the  health  of  others,  and  almost  every  woman  in 
England  has  some  time  or  other  the  charge  of  the 
health  of  another.  ''  Every  woman  is  a  nurse." 
Then  she  proceeds  with  piquant  saying  and  homely 
illustration   to    give   simple   rules  for   the   amateur 


278      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

nurse.  "  No  need  to  discuss,"  she  says,  *'  whether 
the  top  of  Mont  Blanc  will  ever  be  inhabited 
— it  will  be  thousands  of  years  before  we  have 
reached  the  bottom  of  Mont  Blanc  in  making 
the  earth  healthy.  Nursing  has  been  limited  to 
signify  little  more  than  the  administration  of 
medicines  and  the  application  of  poultices.  It 
ought  to  signify  the  proper  use  of  fresh  air,  light, 
warmth,  quiet,  and  proper  selection  and  administra- 
tion of  diet.'* 

She  goes  on  to  refer  to  the  "  coxcombries  "  of 
education,  by  v/hich  the  elements  of  astronomy  are 
taught  to  every  schoolgirl  while  the  future  wives 
and  mothers  are  not  instructed  in  those  laws  which 
God  has  assigned  to  the  relations  of  our  bodies  with 
the  world  in  which  He  has  put  them.  It  is  no  use 
to  blame  the  climate,  which  we  cannot  control,  for 
sickness.  *'  What  can  we  do  with  the  east  wind }  " 
people  ask. 

"  Who  is  it  who  knows  when  the  wind  is  in  the 
east  ?  "  returns  Miss  Nightingale.  "  Not  the  High- 
land drover,  certainly  exposed  to  the  east  wind, 
but  the  young  lady  who  is  worn  out  with  the  want 
of  exposure  to  fresh  air,  to  sunlight.  Put  the 
latter  under  as  good  sanitary  condition  as  the  former, 
and  she  too  will  not  know  when  the  wind  is  in 
the  east." 

Miss  Nightingale  groups  young  ladies  and  soldiers 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  279 

together  as  the  most  frequent  victims  of  consump- 
tion, owing  to  foul  air  and  exposure  to  chills. 
"  Young  ladies,  like  soldiers,  go  out  in  all  weathers, 
the  one  to  parties,  the  other  to  sentry  duty  ;  both 
enter  foul  air^  the  one  in  ball-rooms,  the  other  in 
guard-rooms  ;  both  go  home  in  damp  night  air 
after  skin  and  lungs  are  oppressed  in  their  functions 
by  overcrowding."  She  implores  young  ladies  to 
open  their  windows  and  bedcurtains  at  night,  and 
not  be  afraid  of  spoiling  their  complexions.  This 
was  written,  it  must  be  remembered,  more  than  forty 
years  ago,  when  girls  were  more  afraid  of  fresh 
air  than  they  are  to-day,  now  that  cycling,  hockey, 
and  golf  have  inured  them  even  to  east  winds. 

After  dealing  with  household  hygiene  in  chapters 
on  *'  Ventilating  and  Warming,"  and  "  Health  of 
Houses,"  she  proceeds  to  consider  the  bad  results 
of  **  Petty  Management,"  under  which  heading  the 
want  of  relays  of  nurses  is  dealt  with  both  in 
institutions  and  in  private  homes.  A  tired,  jaded 
nurse  is  almost  worse  than  no  nurse  at  all.  The 
nurse  must  have  needed  rest ;  still,  the  patient  should 
not  be  left  alone.  "  I  once  heard  a  neglectful 
official  rebuked,"  says  Miss  Nightingale,  ''  in  the 
words,  '  Patients,  sir,  will  not  stop  dying  while 
we  are  in  church.'  " 

The  subject  of  "  Noise  "  gives  Miss  Nightingale 
the   occasion   to  speak  plainly  on  the  dress  of  the 


28o      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

amateur  nurse.  She  wrote  in  the  days  of  crinolines, 
but  her  strictures  would  equally  apply  to  the 
woman  who  in  modern  times  gets  her  long  skirts 
entangled  in  the  furniture,  and  creates  as  much 
noise  and  upset  in  the  sick  chamber  as  did  the 
nurse  of  the  olden  days  with  her  crinoline.  Miss 
Nightingale  endorses  Lord  Melbourne's  sentiments 
when  he  said  :  *'  I  would  rather  have  men  about 
me  when  I  am  ill.  I  think  it  requires  very 
strong  health  to  put  up  with  women."  It  was 
*'  the  fidget  of  silk  and  crinoline,  the  crackling  of 
starched  petticoats,  the  creaking  of  stays  and  shoes," 
which  led  Lord  Melbourne  to  make  this  ungallant 
observation. 

Miss  Nightingale  advises  the  private  woman 
called  upon  to  nurse  in  her  own  family  to  copy 
the  neat,  trim  style  of  dressing  adopted  by  the 
professional  nurse.  Her  manner  should  be  as 
motionless  as  possible.  "  Never  gesticulate  when 
speaking  to  the  sick,"  cultivate  conciseness  and 
calmness,  and  avoid  an  irresolute  manner. 

The  chapter  on  "  Variety "  deals  in  a  beautiful 
and  sympathetic  spirit  with  the  effect  of  colour  and 
variety  of  objects  on  the  sick  person.  *'  The  effect 
in  sickness,"  she  writes,  '*  of  beautiful  objects,  of 
variety  of  objects,  and  especially  of  brilliancy  of 
colour,  is  hardly  at  all  appreciated.  Such  cravings 
are  not  fancies.  .  .  o  Variety  of  form  and  brilliancy 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  281 

of  colour  in  the  objects  presented  to  patients  are 
actual  means  of  recovery/'  and  she  recalls  her  own 
case,  already  quoted,  when  a  nosegay  of  wild-flowers 
brought  to  her  hut  on  the  heights  of  Balaclava,  where 
she  lay  with  fever,  seemed  to  put  new  life  into  her. 
"Form  and  colour,"  she  says,  "will  free  your 
patient  from  his  painful  ideas  better  than  any 
argument."  People  say  it  is  the  effect  on  the 
patient's  mind.  It  is  no  such  thing  ;  the  effect 
is  on  the  body  too.  While  variety  in  objects  is 
necessary,  "  it  must  be  a  slow  variety  ;  don't  show 
a  patient  ten  or  twelve  engravings  successively." 
One  fresh  picture  a  day  hung  on  his  wall  or  brought 
to  his  bedside  will  be  more  appreciated. 

The  Queen  of  Nurses  combats  the  frequently 
accepted  idea  that  cut  flowers  and  growing  plants 
are  unhealthy  in  a  sick-room,  even  at  night.  "  The 
carbonic  acid  they  give  off"  at  nights,"  she  writes, 
"  would  not  poison  a  fly.  Nay,  in  overcrowded 
rooms  they  actually  absorb  carbonic  acid  and  give 
off^  oxygen.  Cut  flowers  also  decompose  water  and 
produce  oxygen  gas."  The  nurse  should  observe 
what  colours  are  most  pleasing  to  her  patient. 
"  Some  sick  persons  feel  stimulus  from  looking 
at  scarlet  flowers,  others  exhaustion  from  looking 
at  deep  blue." 

This  reminds  me  of  an  incident  which  occurred 
while   the  present   writer   was   going   over   Netley 


282      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Hospital  when  it  was  filled  with  wounded  from 
the  battlefields  of  South  Africa.  The  convalescent 
soldiers  were  doing  fancy  woolwork,  and  a  sister 
came  into  a  ward  bearing  a  parcel  of  wool  sent  by 
a  benevolent  lady.  When  opened,  the  wool  was 
found  to  be  all  in  khaki  colour.  The  men  turned 
their  heads  in  disgust.  *'  Didn't  we  see  enough  of 
khaki  in  South  Africa,  sister?"  they  exclaimed. 
*'  Why  don't  these  kind  ladies  send  us  bright  colours 
which  will  drive  the  thought  of  khaki  out  of  our 
minds."  A  moment's  intelligent  reflection  on  the 
colours  most  likely  to  please  the  brave  fellows  at 
Netley  would  have  prevented  such  a  foolish  mis- 
take. Miss  Nightingale's  words  of  wisdom,  written 
forty  years  ago,  are  not  obsolete  yet. 

The  subject  of  "Taking  Food"  is  next  dealt 
with,  and  Miss  Nightingale  vigorously  attacks  the 
accepted  traditions.  It  is  a  common  error  "  that 
beef  tea  is  the  most  nutritious  of  all  articles.  Now 
just  try  and  boil  down  a  pound  of  beef  into  beef 
tea,  evaporate  your  beef  tea,  and  see  what  is  left  of 
your  beef — barely  a  tablespoonful  of  solid  nourish- 
ment to  half  a  pint  of  water  in  beef  tea."  Still, 
Miss  Nightingale  admits  that  there  is  a  certain 
reparative  quality  in  beef  tea,  as  in  ordinary  tea. 
She  denounces  that  favourite  article  with  the  friends 
of  the  sick,  jelly,  which  usually  contains  no  nourish- 
ment at  all. 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  283 

Miss  Nightingale  is  constantly  called  the  "  soldier's 
friend "  and  one  may  add  that  she  is  above  all 
the  patient's  friend.  *' Attend,"  she  writes,  "to 
the  intelligent  cravings  of  the  sick.  Patients  crave 
for  things  laid  down  in  no  sick  dietary.  It  often 
happens  that  the  patient's  stomach  is  right  and 
the  book  wrong.  You  can't  diet  a  patient  from 
a  book." 

How  many  weary  invalids  will  thank  the  Queen 
of  Nurses  for  granting  them  the  too  often  condemned 
cup  of  tea.  "  A  great  deal  too  much  against  tea  is 
said  by  wise  people,"  she  writes.  *'  When  you 
see  the  natural  and  almost  universal  craving  in 
English  sick  for  their  'tea/  you  cannot  but  feel 
that  Nature  knows  what  she  is  about.  I  should 
be  very  glad  if  any  of  the  abusers  of  tea  would 
point  out  what  to  give  to  an  English  patient  after 
a  sleepless  night,  instead  of  tea.  It  is  the  almost 
universal  testimony  of  English  men  and  women 
who  have  undergone  great  fatigue,  such  as  riding 
long  journeys  without  stopping,  or  sitting  up  for 
several  nights  in  succession,  that  they  could  do  it 
best  upon  an  occasional  cup  of  tea — and  nothing 
else.  Let  experience,  not  theory,  decide  upon  this 
as  upon  all  other  things."  Cocoa  increases  fat,  but 
has  no  restorative  power,  and  it  is  *'  pure  mockery 
to  offer  it  as  a  substitute  for  tea — you  might,"  adds 
Miss  Nightingale,  "as  well  offer  patients  chestnuts 


284      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

instead  of  tea."  She  gives  the  warning,  however, 
that  too  much  tea  is  given  to  the  sick  by  foolish 
people,  and  that  as  a  rule  neither  tea  nor  coffee 
should  be  given  to  invalids  after  five  o^clock. 

The  remarks  on  "  Beds  and  Bedding "  are  not 
as  relevant  now  as  when  they  were  written  in 
the  days  of  the  much  be-curtained  four-post  bed- 
stead and  luxurious  feather  beds.  Most  people 
now  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  the  iron  bed- 
stead with  spring  mattress.  The  bed  coverings 
should  be  light  as  well  as  warm  and  **  a  true  nurse," 
says  Miss  Nightingale,  **  always  makes  her  patient's 
bed  and  does  not  leave  it  to  the  housemaid."  She 
recommends  that  the  bed  should  always  be  in  the 
lightest  place  in  the  room,  and  the  patient  able 
to  see  out  of  window.  ^'  A  fashionable  physician," 
she  writes,  "  has  been  saying  that  he  turns  his 
patients'  faces  from  the  light.  Yes,  but  Nature  is 
stronger  than  fashionable  physicians,  and  depend 
upon  it,  she  turns  the  faces  back  and  towards  such  light 
aa  she  can  get."  Observation  of  the  sick  shows 
that  patients  do  not  turn  their  faces  to  the 
wall. 

Miss  Nightingale,  in  illustration  of  the  craving  of 
the  sick  to  see  out  of  window,  relates  a  beautiful 
story  of  a  nurse's  self-sacrifice.  A  poor  man  in 
one  of  the  hospitals  was  suffering  from  spinal 
accident  and  expressed  an  intense   longing  just  to 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  285 

have  one  look  out  of  the  window.  The  nurse, 
moved  with  compassion  for  the  poor  fellow's  craving, 
raised  him  on  her  back  so  that  he  might  take  his 
coveted  look  at  the  outside  world  once  again.  His 
joy  was  great,  but  the  effort  cost  the  nurse  a  long 
and  serious  illness. 

Under  the  heading  of  '^  Chattering  Hopes  and 
Advices,"  Miss  Nightingale  evidently  speaks  out 
of  the  fulness  of  her  own  experience.  *' '  Chattering 
Hopes,'  "  she  says,  "  may  seem  an  odd  heading.  But 
I  really  believe  there  is  scarcely  a  greater  worry 
which  invalids  have  to  endure  than  the  incurable 
hopes  of  their  friends.  There  is  no  one  practice 
against  which  I  can  speak  more  strongly  from  actual 
experience,  wide  and  long,  of  its  effects  during 
sickness,  observed  both  upon  others  and  upon 
myself.  I  would  appeal  most  seriously  to  all  friends, 
visitors,  and  attendants  of  the  sick  to  leave  off  this 
practice  of  attempting  to  '  cheer '  the  sick  by 
making  light  of  their  danger  and  by  exaggerating 
their  probabilities  of  recovery.  .  .  .  The  fact  is  that 
the  patient  is  not  *  cheered '  at  all  by  these  well- 
meaning,  most  tiresome  friends."  The  advice  or 
opinion  of  the  experienced  does  not  of  course  come 
under  the  head  of  "  Chattering  Hopes,"  but  it  is 
the  advice  of  "  inexperience  to  bitter  experience  " 
which  Miss  Nightingale  condemns,  and  which 
amounts  to  nothing  more  than  this,  "  that  you  think 


286      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

I  shall  recover  from  consumption,  because  somebody 
knows  somebody,  somewhere,  who  has  recovered 
from  fever."  Nurses  should  protect  their  patients 
from  visitors  of  the  class  indicated. 

The  "Observation  of  the  Sick"  is  a  quality 
which  needs  cultivation.  "  The  most  important 
practical  lesson  that  can  be  given  to  nurses  is  to 
teach  them  what  to  observe,"  writes  Miss  Nightingale, 
also  "  how  to  observe,"  and  to  accurately  state 
the  result  of  observation.  It  is  a  more  difficult 
thing  to  speak  the  truth  than  people  commonly 
imagine.  ''  Courts  of  justice  seem  to  think  that 
anybody  can  speak  '  the  whole  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,'  if  he  does  but  intend  it."  It  requires 
many  faculties  combined  of  observation  and  memory 
to  do  that.  She  quotes  a  little  incident  to  illustrate 
the  point.  "  I  know  I  fibs  dreadful ;  but  believe 
me,  miss,  I  never  finds  out  I  have  fibbed  until 
they  tells  me  so,"  was  a  remark  once  made  to  her, 
which  is,  as  she  says,  "  one  of  more  extended 
application  than  most  people  have  the  least  idea  of" 

Needless  to  say,  unintentional  "  fibbing,"  or  in 
other  words  lack  of  observation,  which  leads  a  nurse 
to  wrongly  inform  the  doctor  regarding  the  patient, 
often  leads  to  disastrous  results.  "  I  knew,"  says 
Miss  Nightingale,  "  a  very  clever  physician  of  large 
dispensary  and  hospital  practice,  who  invariably 
began  his  examination  of  a  patient  with  '  Put  your 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  287 

finger  where  you  be  bad.'  That  man  would  never 
waste  his  time  with  collecting  inaccurate  information 
from  nurse  or  patient."  Nothing  leads  to  in- 
accurate information  more  than  putting  "leading 
questions  "  to  sick  people.  ''  How  do  you  sleep  .''  " 
"  How  is  your  appetite  ?  "  A  tactful  and  observant 
nurse  will  be  better  able  to  answer  such  questions 
than   the  patient  himself. 

Miss  Nightingale  thinks  that  Englishwomen  are 
not  naturally  good  observers,  though  capable  of 
attaining  to  it  by  training.  The  French  or  Irish 
woman  is  much  quicker.  She  records  a  homely 
little  example  of  want  of  observation.  *'  I  remember 
when  a  child,"  she  writes,  *' hearing  the  story  of 
an  accident  related  by  some  one  who  sent  two 
nieces  to  fetch  a  '  bottle  of  sal-volatile  from  her 
room.'  *  Mary  could  not  stir/  she  said  ;  *  Fanny 
ran  and  fetched  a  bottle  that  was  not  sal-volatile, 
and  that  was  not  in  my  room.'  If  Fanny  had 
observed  the  bottle  of  sal-volatile  in  the  aunt's 
room  every  day  she  was  there,  she  would  have 
found  it  when  it  was  suddenly  wanted.  This  habit 
of  inattention  generally  pursues  a  person  through 
life,  a  woman  is  asked  to  fetch  a  large  new-bound 
red  book  lying  on  the  table  by  the  window,  and 
she  fetches  five  small  old  boarded  brown  books 
lying  on  the  shelf  by  the  fire." 

In  contrast  to  this  type  of  careless  person,  Miss 


288      LIFE  OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Nightingale  instances  the  trained  observations  of 
a  famous  actress.  "  I  was  once  taken,"  she  writes, 
*'  to  see  a  great  actress  in  Lady  Macbeth.  To  me 
it  appeared  the  mere  transference  upon  the  stage  of 
a  death-bed,  such  as  I  had  often  witnessed.  So, 
just  before  death,  have  I  seen  a  patient  get  out  of 
bed  and  feebly  re-enact  some  scene  of  long  ago, 
exactly  as  if  walking  in  sleep."  The  actress  played 
her  part  so  well  because  she  had  actually  observed 
life. 

*'The  very  alphabet  of  a  nurse,"  says  Miss 
Nightingale,  **  is  to  observe  so  well  that  she  is 
able  to  interpret  every  change  which  comes  over 
a  patient's  countenance,  without  causing  him  the 
exertion  of  saying  what  he  feels.  ...  A  patient 
is  not  merely  a  piece  of  furniture,  to  be  kept  clean 
and  arranged  against  the  wall,  and  saved  from 
injury  or  breakage — though  to  judge  from  what 
many  a  nurse  does  and  does  not  do,  you  would 
say  he  was."  Then  comes  a  caution  that  all  sick 
people  dislike  being  watched,  and  the  nurse  must 
observe  without  appearing  to  do  so.  Miss  Nightin- 
gale relates  that  the  best  observer  she  ever  knew 
was  a  distinguished  doctor  for  lunacy.  '*  He  leans 
back  in  his  chair,  with  half-shut  eyes,"  she  relates, 
"and,  meanwhile,  he  sees  everything,  observes 
everything,  and  you  feel  he  knows  you  better  than 
many  who  have  lived  with  you  twenty  years.      I 


THE    LATE    LADY    VERNEY. 
{From   a  painting  at  Claydon.) 


\l'o  face  p.  28 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  289 

believe  it  is  this  singular  capacity  of  observation  and 
of  understanding  what  observed  appearances  imply 
which  gives  him  his  singular  influence  over  lunatics." 

In  a  concluding  chapter,   Miss  Nightingale  refers  j 

to  the  dangers  of  "  reckless  physicking  by  amateur  ^y 
females,"  and  tells  of  the  lady  who,  having  procured 
a  prescription  for  a  blue  pill  which  suited  her  during 
one  indisposition,  proceeded  to  dose  not  only  herself 
but  her  family  too,  *'for  all  complaints  upon  all 
occasions."  Then  there  are  the  women  who  have 
no  ideas  beyond  calomel  and  aperients,  and  the 
Lady  Bountifuls  who  dose  their  poorer  neighbours 
with  a  favourite  prescription  when  it  would  be 
doing  more  good  if  they  persuaded  the  people 
to  "  remove  the  dung-hill  from  before  the  door, 
to  put  in  a  window  which  opens,  or  an  Arnott's 
ventilator,  or  to  cleanse  and  lime-wash  their 
cottages." 

She  has  some  last  words  to  say  on  nursing  as 
a  profession,  and  gives  a  humorous  little  thrust  at 
''  the  commonly  received  idea  among  men,  and  even 
among  women  themselves,  that  it  requires  nothing 
but  a  disappointment  in  love,  the  want  of  an 
object,  a  general  disgust,  or  incapacity  for  other 
things,  to  turn  a  woman  into  a  good  nurse."  *'This 
reminds  one  of  the  parish  where  a  stupid  old 
man  was  set  to  be  school-master  because  he  was 
*  past  keeping  the  pigs.'  " 

19 


290      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Miss  Nightingale  sums  up  the  matter  with  some 
condensed  wisdom  on  the  question  as  to  whether 
women  are  fitted  for  the  medical  and  other  pro- 
fessions. She  urges  them  to  keep  clear  of  '^  the 
jargon  "  which  impels  a  woman  on  the  one  hand  to 
do  things  simply  to  imitate  men,  and  on  the  other 
to  refrain  from  doing  what  she  has  the  power  to 
accomplish  simply  because  it  has  hitherto  been  con- 
sidered man's  work.  ''  Surely  woman,"  she  writes, 
'^  should  bring  the  best  she  has,  whatever  that  is, 
to  the  work  of  God's  world,  without  attending 
to  either  of  these  cries.  For  what  are  they,  but 
listening  to  the  '  what  people  will  say '  opinion,  to 
the  voices  from  without  }  No  one  has  ever  done 
anything  great  or  useful  by  listening  to  the  voices 
from  without.  You  want  to  do  the  thing  that  is 
good,  whether  people  call  it  '  suitable  for  a  woman ' 
or  not.  Oh,  leave  these  jargons,  and  go  your  way 
straight  to  God's  work,  in  simplicity  and  singleness 
of  heart." 

A  year  after  the  publication  of  Notes  on  Nursing, 
Miss  Nightingale  issued  (1861)  a  modified  edition 
of  the  work,  under  the  title  of  Notes  on  Nursing  for 
the  Labouring  Classes,  adding  a  chapter  on  *'  Minding 
Baby,"  which  is  specially  addressed  to  young  girls 
in  working  families,  who  have  a  great  deal  to  do 
with  minding  mother's  baby.  It  is  dehghtfully 
written  and  reveals  how  conversant  the  author  was 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  291 

with  the  homes  of  the  poor.  It  would  do  more 
good  than  many  tracts  if  distributed  by  the  district 
visitor,  and  would  be  a  useful  addition  to  the  text- 
books of  our  elementary  schools.  With  her  usual 
quick  insight  the  Queen  of  Nurses  recognises 
the  importance  of  the  working-girl  nurse.  "  One- 
half  of  all  the  nurses  in  service,"  she  writes, 
"  are  girls  of  from  five  to  twenty  years  old.  You 
see  you  are  very  important  little  people.  Then  there 
are  all  the  girls  who  are  nursing  mother's  baby  at 
home  ;  and  in  all  these  cases  it  seems  pretty  nearly 
to  come  to  this,  that  baby's  health  for  its  whole 
life  depends  upon  you,  girls,  more  than  upon  any- 
thing else."  Simple  rules  such  as  a  girl  of  six  could 
understand  are  given  for  the  feeding,  washing, 
dressing,  nursing,  and  even  amusement  of  that 
important  person,  "  baby." 

''  The  healthiest,  happiest,  liveliest,  most  beautiful 
baby  I  ever  saw  was  the  only  child  of  a  busy 
laundress,"  writes  Miss  Nightingale  ;  "  she  washed 
all  day  in  a  room  with  the  door  open  upon  a 
larger  room,  where  she  put  the  child.  It  sat  or 
crawled  upon  the  floor  all  day  with  no  other  play- 
fellow than  a  kitten,  which  it  used  to  hug.  Its 
mother  kept  it  beautifully  clean,  and  fed  it  with 
perfect  regularity.  The  child  was  never  frightened 
at  anything.  The  room  where  it  sat  was  the  house- 
place  ;  and  it  always  gave  notice  to  its  mother  when 


292       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

anybody  came  in,  not  by  a  cry,  but  by  a  crow.  I 
lived  for  many  months  within  hearing  of  that 
child,  and  never  heard  it  cry  day  or  night.  1  think 
there  is  a  great  deal  too  mxuch  of  amusing  children 
now  ;  and  not  enough  of  letting  them  amuse 
themselves." 

The  versatility  of  Miss  Nightingale's  pen  is 
shown  by  her  next  publication,  The  Sanitary  State 
of  the  Army  in  India^  which  came  out  in  1863. 
The  hand  which  could  write  with  such  tender 
womanly  concern  about  baby  could  deal  vigorous 
blows  at  the  insanitary  condition  of  the  soldiers  in 
India.  She  had  been  keenly  interested  in  Lord 
Herbert's  scheme  for  uniting  the  Indian  with  the 
Home  army,  and  followed  it  up  by  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  causes  affecting  the  health  ot 
the  army  in  India.  An  elaborate  series  of  written 
evidence  procured  from  all  the  principal  stations 
of  India  by  the  Royal  Commission  appointed  for 
the  purpose,  was  laid  before  Miss  Nightingale  in 
1 861,  and  at  the  request  of  the  Commission  she 
wrote  a  valuable  paper  of  comments  on  the  reports. 
Lord  Stanley  succeeded  Lord  Herbert  as  President 
of  the  Commission,  and  to  him  Miss  Nightingale 
addressed  her  observations,  which  form  a  book  of 
some  hundred  pages.  She  points  out  in  her  usual 
concise  style  the  evils  arising  from  the  defective 
sanitation  of  the  camps,  the  bad  water,  lack  of  drain- 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  293 

age,  and  the  imperfections  of  the  hospitals,  and  deals 
with  the  preventable  causes  which  lead  to  drunken- 
ness and  a  low  tone  of  morality  amongst  the  Indian 
troops. 

The  state  of  the  army  in  India  continued  to  be 
a  matter  of  great  concern  to  Miss  Nightingale,  and 
at  the  request  of  the  National  Social  Science  Con- 
gress she  prepared  a  paper  on  the  subject,  to  which 
she  gave  the  arresting  title  "  How  People  may  Live 
and  not  Die  in  India."  This  was  read  at  the 
Edinburgh  meeting  in  1863,  and  published  in 
pamphlet  form  the  following  year.  In  a  prefatory 
note  Miss  Nightingale  refers  with  pleasure  to  the 
improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  soldiers  which 
had  taken  place  in  many  respects.  The  intro- 
duction of  soldiers'  gardens,  trades,  and  workshops 
enabled  the  men  to  realise  that  it  was  better  to 
work  than  to  sleep  and  to  drink,  even  during  hot 
weather. 

She  gives  an  interesting  instance  of  how  these 
reforms  had  worked.  "  One  regiment  marching 
into  a  station,"  she  writes,  "  where  cholera  had  been 
raging  for  two  years,  were  '  chaffed '  by  the  regi- 
ments marching  out,  and  told  they  would  never 
come  out  of  it  alive. 

"  The  men  of  the  entering  battalion  answered. 
They  would  see  ;  we  wont  have  cholera.  And  they 
made  gardens  with  such  good  effect  that  they  had 


294      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  pleasure  not  only  of  eating  their  own  vegetables, 
but  of  being  paid  for  them  too  by  the  commissariat. 
And  this  in  a  soil  which  no  regiment  had  been  able 
to  cultivate  before.  And  not  a  man  had  cholera. 
These  good  soldiers  fought  against  disease,  too, 
by  workshops  and  gymnasia,  and  at  a  few  hill 
stations  the  men  have  covered  the  whole  hill-sides 
with  their  gardens." 

She  goes  on  to  tell  of  the  good  results  taking  place 
from  the  introduction  of  gymnastics  for  the  men 
and  cricket  and  other  outdoor  sports.  "  In  short," 
she  adds  in  a  pithy  sentence,  "  v/ork  and  all  kinds 
of  exercise  cause  sickly  men  to  flourish."  Soldiers' 
libraries  were  being  established  by  Government, 
better  cook-houses  built,  and  the  soldiers  taught  to 
cook.  And  so  far  she  is  glad  to  record  that  the 
soldiers'  habits  had  improved.  "  But  the  main 
causes  of  diseases  in  India — want  of  drainage,  want 
of  water  supply  for  stations  and  towns — remain  as 
before,"  she  ironically  remarks,  *'  in  all  their 
primitive  perfection."  The  death-rate  of  troops 
serving  in  India  was  the  alarming  one  of  sixty-nine 
per  thousand  per  annum.  "  It  takes  something  more 
than  climate  to  account  for  this,"  she  writes.  ^'  All 
that  the  climate  requires  is  that  men  shall  adapt 
their  social  habits  and  customs  to  it,  as,  indeed,  they 
must  do  to  the  requirements  of  every  other  climate 
under  heaven.      There  is  not  a  shadow    of   proof 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN  OF  NURSES  295 
that  India  was  created  to  be  the  grave  of  the  British 


race. 


Miss  Nightingale  then  enumerates  the  simple 
rules  for  dress,  diet,  and  exercise  to  be  observed 
by  soldiers  serving  in  India.  But  though  a  man 
can  regulate  his  personal  habits,  "  he  cannot,"  she 
adds,  "  drain  and  sewer  his  own  city,  nor  lay  a 
water  supply  on  to  his  own  station,  nor  build  his 
own  barracks,"  and  she  proceeds  to  urge  that  sanitary 
reform  in  India  is  still  one  of  the  most  pressing 
questions  for  the  Government.  By  wise  measures 
the  enormous  death-rate  of  sixty-nine  per  thousand 
might  be  reduced  to  ten  per  thousand.  *'  What  a 
work,  what  a  noble  task  for  a  Government — no 
*  inglorious  period  of  our  dominion  '  that,"  she  writes, 
"  but  a  most  glorious  one  !  " 

Ten  years  later  Miss  Nightingale  again  returned 
to  the  ''  charge  "  and  prepared  a  paper  on  "  Life  or 
Death  in  India,"  which  was  read  at  the  meeting 
of  the  National  Association  for  the  promotion  of  Social 
Science  at  Norwich  in  1873,  and  afterwards  pub- 
lished as  a  pamphlet  with  an  appendix  on  *'  Life 
or  Death   by    Irrigation." 

In  this  paper  Miss  Nightingale  pointed  out  the 
cheering  fact  that  during  the  past  ten  years  in  which 
sanitary  reforms  had  been  progressing  the  death- 
rate  of  the  army  in  India  had  been  reduced  from 
sixty-nine  per  thousand  to  eighteen  per  thousand — 


296      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

that  is,  eighteen  men  died  where  sixty-nine  had  died 
before.  Still,  she  considered  that  this  only  sufficed  to 
show  the  work  that  yet  remained  to  be  done,  especially 
with  regard  to  the  drainage,  water  supply,  and  the 
irrigation  of  the  country  for  commercial  purposes,  on 
account  not  only  of  the  soldier,  but  to  promote 
the  health  of  the  teeming  millions  of  our  fellow- 
subjects  in  India  and  their  general  prosperity. 

Miss  Nightingale  disposes  of  the  *' caste" 
difficulty  with  an  amusing  incident.  When  the 
Government's  new  water  supply  "  was  first  introduced 
into  Calcutta,  the  high-caste  Hindoos  still  desired 
their  water-carriers  to  bring  them  their  sacred 
water  from  the  river  ;  but  these  functionaries,  finding 
it  much  easier  to  take  the  water  from  the  new  taps, 
just  rubbed  in  a  little  (vulgar  not  sacred)  mud, 
and  presented  it  as  Ganges  water. 

"  When  at  last  the  filthy  fraud  was  discovered, 
public  opinion,  founded  on  experience,  had  already 
gone  too  far  to  return  to  dirty  water.  And  the 
new  water  supply  was,  at  public  meetings,  adjudged 
to  be  theologically  as  well  as  physically  safe." 

Miss  Nightingale  urges  that  irrigation  schemes 
should  be  set  on  foot  by  the  Government  as  a 
preventive  against  the  ever-recurring  famines  which 
afflict  our  fellow  Indian  subjects  so  severely.  "  Is 
not  the  Government  of  India,"  she  asks,  "  too 
much  like  a  dispensary,  which   does  all    that  man 


WISDOM  FROM  THE   QUEEN   OF  NURSES  297 

can  do  to    cure  when    too   late    to  do   anything  to 
prevent  ?  " 

While  Miss  Nightingale's  pen  was  pleading  so 
eloquently  and  practically  during  this  period  for 
the  good  of  the  great  Empire  in  the  East,  she  was 
not  unmindful  of  the  people  at  home.  Her  writings 
and  work  in  connection  with  the  sick  poor  must 
form  the  subject  of  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  NURSING  OF  THE  SICK  POOR 

Origin  of  the  Liverpool  Home  and  Training  School — Interest  in 
the  Sick  Paupers — "  Una  and  the  Lion  "  a  Tribute  to  Sister 
Agnes  Jones — Letter  to  Miss  Florence  Lees — Plea  for  a  Home 
for  Nurses — On  the  Question  of  Paid  Nurses — Queen  Victoria's 
Jubilee  Nursing  Institute — Rules  for  Probationers. 

Nursing  is  an  Art ;  and  if  it  is  to  be  made  an  art,  requires  as  exclusive 
a  devotion,  as  hard  a  preparation,  as  any  painter's  or  sculptor's  work; 
for  what  is  the  having  to  do  with  dead  canvas,  or  cold  marble,  compared 
with  having  to  do  with  the  living  body — the  temple  of  God's  spirit.  ...  It 
is  one  of  the  Fine  Arts  ;  I  had  almost  said,  the  finest  of  the  Fine  Arts. — 
Florence  Nightingale. 

THERE  is  no  branch  of  sick  nursing  which 
appeals  more  strongly  to  Miss  Nightingale 
than  the  care  of  the  sick  poor.  It  was  as  a  visitor 
in  the  homes  of  her  poorer  neighbours  at  Lea  Hurst 
and  Embley  that  she  began  her  philanthropic  work, 
and  though  the  outbreak  of  the  Crimean  War  drew 
her  into  the  public  arena  and  concentrated  her 
attention  on  the  army,  she  had  not  ceased  to  feel  the 
importance  of  attending  to  the  needs  of  the  sick 
poor,  and  repeatedly  drew  attention  to  the  fact  that 

298 


THE  NURSING    OF  THE  SICK  POOR         299 

England  was  behind  other  nations  in  providing  for 
the  sick  at  home. 

She  recognised  also  that  for  this  work  a  special 
training  was  needed.  A  nurse  who  had  received 
a  course  of  instruction  in  a  hospital  was  not 
necessarily  competent  to  nurse  the  poor  in  their 
own  homes.  Special  knowledge  and  special  experi- 
ence were  needed  before  a  woman,  however  skilled 
in  the  technical  side  of  nursing,  could  become  a  good 
district  nurse. 

During  the  same  period  that  Miss  Nightingale 
was  establishing  and  organising  her  Training  School 
for  Nurses  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital,  she  was  also 
working  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  William  Rathbone, 
M.P.,  and  other  philanthropic  people  to  found  a 
special  training  school  for  nurses  for  the  poor.  It 
was  at  her  suggestion  that  this  branch  of  pioneer 
work  was  started  in  connection  with  the  Liverpool 
Infirmary,  which  had  already  made  some  provision 
on  similar  lines.  The  prospectus  for  the  Liverpool 
Training  Home  for  Nurses  was  made  public  in 
1 861-2,  and  a  commodious  building  was  subsequently 
erected  in  the  grounds  of  the  infirmary. 

In  1865  Miss  Nightingale  wrote  an  introduction 
to  a  work  describing  the  "  Origin  and  Organisation 
of  the  Liverpool  School  and  Home  for  Nurses." 
"  It  is  the  old  story,  often  told  !  "  she  writes,  "  but 
this   book   opens  a  new  chapter  of  it.     It  gives  us 


300       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

hope  for  a  better  state  of  things.  An  institution 
for  training  nurses  in  connection  with  the  infirmary 
has  been  built  and  organised.  This  is  a  matter  of 
necessity,  because  all  who  wish  to  nurse  efficiently 
must  learn  how  to  nurse  in  a  hospital. 

"  Nursing,  especially  that  most  important  of  all 
its  branches — nursing  of  the  sick  poor  at  home — is 
no  amateur  work.  To  do  it  as  it  ought  to  be  done 
requires  knowledge,  practice,  self-abnegation,  and 
as  is  so  well  said  here,  direct  obedience  to  and 
activity  under  the  highest  of  all  Masters  and  from 
the  highest  of  all  motives.  It  is  an  essential  part 
of  the  daily  service  of  the  Christian  Church.  It 
has  never  been  otherwise.  It  has  proved  itself 
superior  to  all  religious  divisions,  and  is  destined,  by 
God's  blessing,  to  supply  an  opening  the  great 
value  of  which,  in  our  densely  peopled  towns,  has 
been  unaccountably  overlooked  until  within  these 
few  years." 

With  such  noble  words  did  Florence  Nightingale 
usher  in  a  movement  which  has  now  spread  to  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  There  is  not  now  a  work- 
house infirmary  v/hich  has  not  its  trained  nurses 
in  place  of  the  rough-handed  and  unskilled  inmate, 
nor  any  town  and  few  villages  which  have  not 
some  provision  for  nursing  the  sick  poor  in  their 
own  homes,  and  our  beloved  Queen  Victoria  found 
it  the  worthiest  object  to  which  she  could  devote 


THE  NURSING    OF  THE  SICK  POOR        301 

the  people's  offering  In  commemoration  of  her 
Jubilee. 

The  main  objects  of  the  pioneer  Training  Home 
at  Liverpool  were  : — 

1.  To  provide  thoroughly  educated  professional 
nurses  for  the  poor. 

2.  To  provide  district  nurses  for  the  poor. 

3.  To  provide  sick  nurses  for  private  families. 
Miss    Nightingale   watched    the    progress   of  the 

home  with  keen  interest  and  gave  her  advice 
from  time  to  time.  She  was  also  actively  engaged 
in  promoting  workhouse  reform.  A  sick  pauper 
was  to  her  a  human  being,  not  a  "  chattel  "  to  be 
handed  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Mr. 
Bumbles  and  Mrs.  Corneys.  It  afforded  her 
great  satisfaction  that  two  out  of  the  first  lot  of 
nurses  which  left  her  St.  Thomas's  Training  School 
went  as  matrons  to  workhouse  infirmaries.  A 
reform  in  workhouse  hospitals  had  been  brought 
about  by  Mr.  Gathorne-Hardy's  Metropolitan  Poor 
Act  of  1867.  But  the  introduction  of  trained 
nurses  on  the  Nightingale  system  grew  directly  out 
of  the  experience  and  information  which  followed 
the  founding  of  the  Liverpool  Training  Home. 

Hitherto  the  workhouse  nurses  were  the  pauper 
women,  untrustworthy  and  unskilled.  At  Brownlow 
Hill,  Liverpool,  Infirmary  Mr.  Rathbone  relates  that 
there  were  twelve  hundred  beds  occupied  by  people 


302      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

in  all  stages  of  every  kind  of  disease,  and  the  only 
assistants  of  the  two  women  officers  who  superintended 
the  nursing  were  pauper  women  who  were  as  untrust- 
worthy as  they  were  unskilful.  This  was  a  fair 
example  of  workhouse  infirmaries  all  over  the  country. 

The  Select  Vestry  of  Liverpool,  having  received 
an  anonymous  offer  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  ex- 
periment for  three  years,  consented  to  try  Miss 
Nightingale's  plan.  With  her  assistance,  Miss 
Agnes  Jones,  a  lady  who  had  been  trained  at 
Kaiserswerth  like  Miss  Nightingale,  and  also  at 
the  Nightingale  School  at  St.  Thomas's,  was  ap- 
pointed Lady  Superintendent,  and  she  brought  with 
her  a  staff  of  twelve  nurses  from  St.  Thomas's.  At 
first  Miss  Jones  tried  to  get  extra  help  by  training 
the  able-bodied  pauper  women  as  nurses,  but  out 
of  fifty-six  not  one  proved  able  to  pass  the  necessary 
examination  and,  worse  still,  the  greater  number 
used  their  first  salary  to  get  drunk.  The  painful 
fact  was  established  that  not  a  single  respectable 
and  trustworthy  nurse  could  be  found  amongst 
the  workhouse  inmates,  and  the  infirmary  nursing 
had  to  be  taken  entirely  out  of  their  hands. 

After  a  two  years'  trial  Miss  Jones's  experiment 
with  her  trained  and  educated  nurses  proved  so 
satisfactory  that  the  guardians  determined  never 
to  return  to  the  old  system,  and  to  charge  the  rates 
with  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  new  one. 


THE  NURSING    OF  THE  SICK  POOR        303 

To  the  deep  regret  of  every  one,  however,  Miss 
Agnes  Jones  sank  under  the  labours  which  she  had 
undertaken,  and  died  in    February,    1868. 

Miss  Nightingale  contributed  a  beautiful  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  her  friend  and  fellow  worker  in 
Good  Words  for  June,  1868,  under  the  title  "  Una 
and  the  Lion,"  which  subsequently  formed  the 
"  Introduction"  to  The  Memorials  of  Agnes  Eliza- 
beth Jones^  by  her  sister. 

"  One  woman  has  died,"  writes  Miss  Nightingale, 
^'  a  woman,  attractive  and  rich,  and  young  and 
witty  ;  yet  a  veiled  and  silent  woman,  distinguished 
by  no  other  genius  but  the  divine  genius — working 
hard  to  train  herself  in  order  to  train  others  to  walk 
in  the  footsteps  of  Him  v/ho  went  about  doing 
good.  ,  .  .  She  died,  as  she  had  lived,  at  her  post 
in  one  of  the  largest  workhouse  infirmaries  in  this 
kingdom — the  first  in  which  trained  nursing  has 
been  introduced.  .  .  .  When  her  whole  life  and 
image  rise  before  me,  so  far  from  thinking  the 
story  of  Una  and  her  lion  a  myth,  I  say  here  is 
Una  in  real  flesh  and  blood — Una  and  her  paupers 
far  more  untamable  than  lions.  In  less  than  three 
years  she  had  reduced  one  of  the  most  disorderly 
hospital  populations  in  the  world  to  something  like 
Christian  discipline,  and  had  converted  a  vestry  to 
the  conviction  of  the  economy  as  well  as  humanity 
of  nursing  pauper  sick  by  trained  nurses." 


304       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

We  must  refrain  from  quoting  more  of  this 
singularly  fine  tribute  of  the  Chief  to  one  of  her 
ablest  generals  in  the  army  of  nursing  reform,  with 
the  exception  of  the  beautiful  closing  words  :  "  Let 
us  add  living  flowers  to  her  grave,  '  lilies  with  full 
hands/  not  fleeting  primroses,  not  dying  flowers. 
Let  us  bring  the  work  of  our  hands  and  our  heads 
and  our  hearts  to  finish  her  work  which  God  has 
so  blessed.  Let  us  not  merely  rest  in  peace,  but 
let  hers  be  the  life  which  stirs  up  to  fight  the  good 
fight  against  vice  and  sin  and  misery  and  wretched- 
ness, as  she  did — the  call  to  arms  which  she  was 
ever  obeying  : — 

The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 
Who  follows  in  His  train  ? 

Oh,     daughters    of    God,     are     there    so     few     to 
answer  ?  " 

One  cannot  leave  the  subject  without  a  reference 
to  the  influence  which  Miss  Nightingale's  own  early 
example  had  had  on  the  gifted  woman  whose 
memory  she  extolled.  On  the  eve  of  going  into 
training  at  St.  Thomas's  Miss  Agnes  Jones  wrote : 
"  It  is  well  that  I  shall,  at  my  first  outset  in  hospital 
work,  bear  the  name  of  *  Nightingale  Probationer,' 
for  that  honoured  name  is  associated  with  my  first 
thought  of  hospital  life.  In  the  winter  of  '54, 
when  I  had  those  first  earnest  longings  for  work, 


THE  NURSING   OF  THE  SICK  POOR        305 

and  had  for  months  so  little  to  satisfy  them,  how 
I  wished  I  were  competent  to  join  the  Nightingale 
band  when  they  started  for  the  Crimea  !  I  Hstened 
to  the  animadversions  of  many,  but  I  almost  wor- 
shipped her  who  braved  all,  and  I  felt  she  must 
succeed." 

The  system  inaugurated  by  Miss  Agnes  Jones 
at  Liverpool  Infirmary  spread  over  the  country, 
and  Miss  Nightingale  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
in  a  comparatively  short  time  a  complete  revolution 
in  the  nursing  and  treatment  of  the  sick  in  work- 
houses. Gaols  had  long  been  visited  and  reformed, 
lunatic  asylums  opened  to  inspection,  and  it  seemed 
unaccountable  that  the  misery  of  sick  workhouse 
paupers  should  have  been  so  long  overlooked. 

The  success  of  the  introduction  of  trained  nurses 
into  workhouses  gave  an  impulse  to  sick  poor 
nursing  generally,  and  in  1868  the  East  London 
Nursing  Society  was  founded  by  the  Hon. 
Mrs.  Stuart  Wortley  and  Mr.  Robert  Wigram.  In 
1874  the  movement  received  a  further  important 
impulse  from  the  formation  of  the  National  Nursing 
Association,  to  provide  skilled  nurses  for  the  sick 
poor  in  their  own  homes,  to  establish  district  or- 
ganisations in  London  and  in  the  country,  and  to 
establish  a  training  school  for  district  nurses  in 
connection  with  one  of  the  London  hospitals. 

This    work    appealed    most    strongly    to     Miss 

20 


3o6      LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Nightingale,  and  she  expressed  her  sympathy  in 
the  following  letter  to  that  devoted  pioneer  of 
district  nursing,  Miss  Florence  Lees,  now  Mrs. 
Dacre  Craven,  who  was  the  indefatigable  secretary 
of  the  newly  founded  National  Nursing  Associa- 
tion. 

"  As  to  your  success,"  writes  Miss  Nightingale, 
"  what  is  not  your  success  }  To  raise  the  homes 
of  your  patients  so  that  they  never  fall  back  again 
to  dirt  and  disorder  :  such  is  your  nurses'  influence. 
To  pull  through  life  and  death  cases — cases  which 
it  would  be  an  honour  to  pull  through  with  all 
the  appurtenances  of  hospitals,  or  of  the  richest  in 
the  land,  and  this  without  any  sick-room  appurten- 
ances at  all.  To  keep  whole  families  out  of 
pauperism  by  preventing  the  home  from  being 
broken  up,  and  nursing  the  bread-winner  back  to 
health." 

The  next  point  in  Miss  Nightingale's  letter  was 
one  which  was  at  the  root  of  the  movement  and 
which  she  invariably  emphasised  :  *^  To  drag  the 
noble  art  of  nursing  out  of  the  sink  of  relief  doles." 
It  was  believed  that  nothing  would  so  effectually 
stop  the  pauperising  of  the  people  by  indiscriminate 
charity  as  the  trained  nurse  in  the  homes  of  the  sick 
poor,  who  would  teach  her  patients  how  best  to  help 
themselves.  "  To  carry  out,"  continues  Miss 
Nightingale,  "  the  practical  principles  of  preventing 


THE  NURSING    OF  THE  SICK  POOR      307 

disease  by  stopping  its  causes  and  the  causes  of  infec- 
tions which  spread  disease.  Last  but  not  least,  to 
show  a  common  life  able  to  sustain  the  workers  in 
this  saving  but  hardest  work  under  a  working  head, 
who  will  personally  keep  the  training  and  nursing 
at  its  highest  point.     Is  not  this  a  great  success  } 

"  District  nursing,  so  solitary,  so  without  the 
cheer  and  the  stimulus  of  a  big  corps  of  fellow- 
workers  in  the  bustle  of  a  public  hospital,  but 
also  without  many  of  its  cares  and  strains,  requires 
what  it  has  with  you,  the  constant  supervision  and 
inspiration  of  a  genius  of  nursing  and  a  common 
home.  May  it  spread  with  such  a  standard  over 
the  whole  of  London  and  the  whole  of  the 
land." 

Two  years  later  (1876)  Miss  Nightingale  made 
an  eloquent  plea  in  a  long  letter  to  The  'Times  for 
the  establishment  of  a  Home  for  Nurses  in  con- 
nection with  the  National  Society  for  Providing 
Trained  Nurses  for  the  Poor.  This  letter  was  later 
reprinted  as  a  pamphlet  on  J  rained  Nursing  for 
the  Sick  Poor.  In  specially  pleading  for  a  Central 
Home  for  Nurses,  she  wrote,  *'  If  you  give  nurses 
a  bad  home,  or  no  home  at  all,  you  will  have  only 
nurses  who  live  in  a  bad  home,  or  no  home  at  all," 
and  she  emphasises  the  necessity  for  the  district 
nurse  to  have  a  knowledge  of  how  "  to  nurse  the 
home  as  well  as  the  patient,"  and  for   that   reason 


3o8      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

she  should  live  in  a  place  of  comfort  herself  free 
from  the  discomforts  of  private  lodgings. 

Miss  Nightingale's  plea  bore  fruit  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Central  Home  for  Nurses,  23, 
Bloomsbury  Square,  under  the  able  management 
of  Miss  Florence  Lees.  Nothing  pleased  Miss 
Nightingale  better  than  to  get  reports  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  district  nurses  amongst  the  poor, 
and  to  hear  how  the  people  received  their  visits 
and  what  impression  they  were  able  to  make  on 
the  habits  of  the  people.  She  was  specially  de- 
lighted with  the  story  of  a  puny  slum  boy  who 
vigorously  rebelled  against  a  tubbing  which  Miss 
Lees  was  administering. 

*'  Willie  don't  like  to  be  bathed,"  he  roared ; 
"  00  may  bath  de  debil,  if  00  like  !  "  The  implica- 
tion that  Miss  Lees  was  capable  of  washing  the 
devil  white  Miss  Nightingale  pronounced  the  finest 
compliment  ever  paid  to  a  district  nurse. 

She  has  always  impressed  upon  district  nurses 
the  need  not  only  of  knowing  how  to  give  advice, 
but  how  to  carry  it  out.  The  nurse  must  be  able 
to  show  how  to  clean  up  a  home,  and  Miss  Nightin- 
gale used  frequently  to  quote  the  case  of  a  bishop 
who  cleansed  the  pigsties  of  the  normal  training 
school,  of  which  he  was  master,  as  an  example — 
''  one  of  the  most  episcopal  acts  ever  done,"  was 
her  comment. 


THE  NURSING    OF  THE  SICK  POOR      3^9 

At  first  the  district  nurses  were  recruited  almost 
entirely  from  the  class  known  as  '^  gentlewomen," 
as  it  was  thought  both  by  Miss  Nightingale  and 
Miss  Lees  that  it  required  women  of  special  re- 
finement and  education  to  exercise  influence  over 
the  poor  in  their  own  homes.  Also,  one  of  the 
objects  of  the  National  Association  was  to  raise  the 
standard  of  nursing  in  the  eyes  of  the  public.  It 
was  soon  proved  that  the  lady  nurses  did  not  shirk 
any  of  the  disagreeable  and  menial  ofHces  v/hich  fall 
to  the  lot  of  the  district  nurse.  Broadly  speaking, 
it  is  only  the  educated  women  with  a  vocation  for 
nursing  who  will  undertake  such  duties  ;  the  woman 
who  merely  wants  to  earn  an  income  will  choose 
hospital  or  private  nursing.  In  the  earlier  stages 
of  the  movement  the  district  nurses  worked  without 
or  with  very  slight  remuneration,  and  on  this  question 
of  fees  the  Queen  of  Nurses  may  be  quoted  : — 

"  I  have  seen  somewhere  in  print  that  nursing 
is  a  profession  to  be  followed  by  the  '  lower  middle- 
class.'  Shall  we  say  that  painting  or  sculpture  is 
a  profession  to  be  followed  by  the  'lower  middle- 
class  '  }  Why  limit  the  class  at  all  }  Or  shall 
we  say  that  God  is  only  to  be  served  in  His  sick 
by  the  *  lower  middle-class '  \ 

"  It  appears  to  be  the  most  futile  of  all  distinctions 
to  classify  as  between  'paid'  and  unpaid  art,  so 
between  'paid'  and  unpaid  nursing— to  make  into 


3IO      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

a  test  a  circumstance  as  adventitious  as  whether  the 
hair  is  black  or  brown,  viz.,  whether  people  have 
private  means  or  not,  whether  they  are  obliged  or 
not  to  work  at  their  art  or  their  nursing  for  a 
livelihood.  Probably  no  person  ever  did  that  well 
which  he  did  only  for  money.  Certainly  no  person 
ever  did  that  well  which  he  did  not  work  at  as  hard 
as  if  he  did  it  solely  for  money.  If  by  amateur  in 
art  or  in  nursing  are  meant  those  who  take  it  up 
for  play,  it  is  not  art  at  all,  it  is  not  nursing  at  all. 
You  never  yet  made  an  artist  by  paying  him  well  ; 
but  an  artist  ought  to  be  well  paid." 

A  most  important  outcome  of  the  introduction 
of  a  system  of  trained  nurses  for  the  sick  poor  was 
the  establishment  of  the  Queen's  Jubilee  Nurses. 
Queen  Victoria,  moved  by  the  great  benefit  which 
the  National  Association  had  conferred  on  the  poor, 
decided,  on  the  representations  laid  before  her  by 
Princess  Christian,  to  devote  the  jCjo^ooo  subscribed 
as  the  nation's  Jubilee  gift  in  1887  to  the  extension 
of  this  work.  The  interest  of  the  fund,  amounting 
to  j^2,ooo  per  annun,  was  applied  to  founding  an 
institution  for  the  education  and  maintenance  of 
nurses  for  tending  the  sick  poor  in  their  own 
homes,  with  branch  centres  all  over  the  kingdom. 
The  charter  for  the  new  foundation  was  executed 
on  September  20th,   1890. 

The  central  institute  was  at  first  connected  with 


THE  NURSING   OF  THE  SICK  POOR      311 

St.  Katharine's  Royal  Hospital,  Regent's  Park,  an 
institution  which  had  always  been  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Queens  of  England  since  it  was 
founded  by  Queen  Matilda,  the  wife  of  Stephen,  at 
St.  Katharine's  Wharf,  near  the  Tower  of  London. 
Subsequently  the  headquarters  of  the  Queen  Victoria's 
Jubilee  Nursing  Institute  was  removed  to  Victoria 
Street.  Central  homes  have  also  been  established  at 
Edinburgh,  Dublin,  and  Cardiff,  and  district  homes 
all  over  the  kingdom  are  affiliated  to  the  Institute. 

The  National  Association  for  Providing  Trained 
Nurses  for  the  Sick  Poor,  in  which  Miss  Nightin- 
gale had  so  deeply  interested  herself,  was  affiliated 
to  the  Queen  Victoria's  Jubilee  Institute,  but  it 
still  has  its  original  headquarters  at  the  Nurses' 
Home,  23,  Bloomsbury  Square,  so  ably  managed 
by  the  present  Lady  Superintendent,  Miss  Hadden. 
The  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  is 
Henry  Bonham  Carter,  Esq.,  an  old  friend  and 
fellow  worker  of  Miss  Nightingale,  while  the 
Hon.  Secretary  is  the  Rev.  Dacre  Craven,  Rector 
of  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  whose  wife  was  Miss 
Florence  Lees,  the  first  Lady  Superintendent  of  the 
home  and  one  of  Miss  Nightingale's  devoted 
friends.  Her  Royal  Highness  Princess  Christian 
is  President   of  the  Association. 

There  is  probably  no  movement  which  has  spread 
over  the  country  so  rapidly,  and  which  appeals  to 


312      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  goodwill  of  all  classes,  as  the  nursing  of  the 
sick  poor  in  their  own  homes,  and  its  success 
has  been  one  of  the  chief  satisfactions  of  Miss 
Nightingale's  life.  She  is  always  eager  to  hear 
of  fresh  recruits  being  added  to  the  nursing  army 
of  the  sick  poor,  and  it  may  prove  of  interest  to 
quote  the  regulations  issued  by  the  National 
Association  : — 

REGULATIONS    FOR    THE    TRAINING    OF 
NURSES    FOR    THE    SICK    POOR, 

AND  THEIR  SUBSEQUENT  ENGAGEMENT 

1.  A  Nurse  desiring  to  be  trained  in  District  Nursing  must 
have  previously  received  at  least  two  years'  training  in  a  large 
general  Hospital,  approved  by  the  Committee,  and  bring  satis- 
factory testimonials  as  to  capacity  and  conduct. 

2.  If  considered  by  the  Superintendent  likely  to  prove 
suitable  for  District  Nursing,  she  will  be  received  on  trial 
for  one  month.  If  at  the  end  of  that  time  she  is  considered 
suitable,  she  will  continue  her  course  of  training,  with  technical 
class  instruction  for  five  months  longer. 

3.  The  Nurse  will,  at  the  end  of  her  month  of  trial,  be 
required  to  sign  an  agreement  with  the  Queen  Victoria's 
Jubilee  Institute  that  she  will,  for  one  year  from  the  date 
of  the  completion  of  her  District  training,  continue  to  work 
as  a  District  Nurse  wherever  the  District  Council  of  the 
Queen's  Institute  may  require  her  services. 

4.  While  under  training,  the  Nurse  will  be  subject  to  the 
authority  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Training  Home,  and 
she  must  conform  to  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Home. 
She  will  be  further  subject,  as  to  her  work,  to  the  inspection 
of  the  Inspector  of  the  Queen's  Institute. 


THE  NURSING   OF  THE  SICK  POOR      313 

5.  If,  during  the  time  of  her  training,  the  Nurse  be  found 
inefficient,  or  otherwise  unsuitable,  her  engagement  may, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Inspector  of  the  Queen's  Institute, 
be  terminated  by  the  Superintendent  of  the  Training  Home, 
at  a  week's  notice.  In  the  case  of  misconduct  or  neglect  of 
duty  she  will  be  liable  to  immediate  dismissal  by  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  Training  Home,  with  the  concurrence  of 
the  Inspector  of  the  Queen's  Institute. 

6.  During  her  six  months'  training  she  will  receive  a  pay- 
ment of  jQ\2  loi".,  payable,  one-half  at  the  end  of  three 
months  from  admission,  and  the  remainder  at  the  end  of 
six  months ;  but  should  her  engagement  be  terminated  from 
any  cause  before  the  end  of  her  training,  she  will  not,  without 
the  consent  of  the  Queen's  Institute,  be  entitled  to  any  part 
payment.  She  will  be  provided  with  a  full  board,  laundry, 
a  separate  furnished  bedroom  or  cubicle,  with  a  sitting  room 
in  common,  as  well  as  a  uniform  dress,  which  she  will  be 
required  to  wear  at  all  times  when  on  duty.  The  uniform 
must  be  considered  the  property  of  the  Institute. 

7.  On  the  satisfactory  completion  of  her  training,  the 
Nurse  will  be  recommended  for  engagement  as  a  District 
Nurse,  under  some  Association  affiliated  to  the  Queen's 
Institute,  the  salary  usually  commencing  at  ;^3o  per  annum. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

LATER  YEARS 

The  Nightingale  Home — Rules  for  Probationers— Deaths  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Nightingale— Death  of  Lady  Verney — Continues  to  Visit 
Claydon — Health  Crusade — Rural  Hygiene — A  Letter  to 
Mothers — Introduces  Village  Missioners — Village  Sanitation  in 
India— The  Diamond  Jubilee— Balaclava  Dinner. 

When  a  noble  life  has  prepared  old  age,  it  is  not  the  decline  that 
it  reveals,  but  the  first  days  of  immortality. — Madame  de  Stael. 

MISS  NIGHTINGALE'S  work  for  the  pro- 
fession which  her  name  and  example  had 
lifted  into  such  high  repute  continued  with  unbated 
energy.  The  year  1871  brought  what  must  have 
seemed  like  the  crowning  glory  of  her  initial  work 
when  the  Nightingale  Home  and  Training  School 
was  opened  as  an  integral  portion  of  the  new  St. 
Thomas's  Hospital,  the  finest  institution  of  its  kind 
in  Europe.  This  circumstance  added  greatly  to 
the  popularity  of  nursing  as  a  profession  for  educated 
women. 

Queen  Victoria  had  laid  the  foundation-stone  of 
the  new  hospital  on  May  ijth,  1868,  on  the  fine  site 

314 


LATER    YEARS  315 

skirting  the  Thames  Embankment  opposite  the 
Houses  of  Parliament.  It  was  erected  on  the  block 
system,  which  Miss  Nightingale  has  always  recom- 
mended, and  she  took  a  keen  interest  in  all  the 
model  appliances  and  arrangements  introduced  into 
this  truly  palatial  institution  for  the  sick. 

The  hospital  extends  from  the  foot  of  West- 
minster Bridge  along  the  river  to  Lambeth  Palace, 
and  has  a  frontage  of  1,700  ft.  It  is  built  in  eight 
separate  blocks  or  pavilions.  The  six  centre  blocks 
are  for  patients,  the  one  at  the  north  end  next 
Westminster  Bridge  is  for  the  official  staff,  and  the 
one  at  the  south  end  is  used  for  lecture  rooms 
and  a  school  of  medicine.  Each  block  is  125  ft. 
from  the  other,  but  coupled  by  a  double  corridor. 
The  corridor  fronting  the  river  forms  a  delightful 
terrace  promenade.  Each  block  has  three  tiers  of 
wards  above  the  ground  floor.  The  operating 
theatre  is  capable  of  containing  six  hundred  students. 
A  special  wing  in  one  of  the  northern  blocks  was 
set  apart  for  the  Nightingale  Home  and  Training 
School  for  Nurses.  All  the  arrangements  of  this 
wing  were  carried  out  in  accordance  with  Miss 
Nightingale's  wishes. 

The  hospital  contains  in  all  one  thousand  distinct 
apartments,  and  the  building  cost  half  a  million  of 
money.  It  was  opened  by  Queen  Victoria  on  June 
2 1  St,    1 87 1,   and  T^he  'Times  in  its   account  of  the 


3i6       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

proceedings  is  lost  in  admiration  of  "the  lady 
nurses,  in  their  cheerful  dresses  of  light  grey  [blue 
is  the  colour  of  the  Sisters'  dresses],  ladies,  bright, 
active,  and  different  altogether  from  the  old  type 
of  hospital  nurse  whom  Dickens  made  us  shudder 
to  read  of  and  Miss  Nightingale  is  helping  us 
to  abolish."  The  new  building  gave  increased 
accommodation  and  provided  for  forty  probationers. 
The  rules  for  admission  remained  practically  the 
same  as  when  the  Training  School  was  first  started 
at  the  old  St.  Thomas's. 

At  a  dinner  to  inaugurate  the  opening  of  the  new 
hospital,  the  Chairman,  Sir  Francis  Hicks,  related 
that  Miss  Nightingale  had  told  him  that  she  thought 
it  "  the  noblest  building  yet  erected  for  the  good 
of  our  kind." 

But  our  interest  centres  in  the  Nightingale  wing. 
The  dining  hall  is  a  pleasant  apartment  which  con- 
tains several  mementoes  of  the  lady  whose  name  it 
bears.  One  is  a  unique  piece  of  statuary  enclosed 
in  a  glass  case  and  standing  on  a  pedestal.  To  the 
uninitiated,  it  might  stand  for  a  representation  of 
a  vestal  virgin,  but  we  know  it  to  have  a  nobler 
prototype  than  the  ideal  of  womanly  perfection 
sacred  to  the  Romans.  That  statuette  is  not  the 
blameless  priestess  of  Vesta,  *'  the  world  forgetting, 
by  the  world  forgot,"  but  our  heroine,  whom  the 
sculptor  has  modelled  in  the  character  of  "  The  Lady 


LATER    YEARS  317 

with  the  Lamp."  She  stands,  a  tall,  slim  figure, 
in  simple  nurse's  dress,  holding  in  one  hand  a  small 
lamp — such  as  she  used  when  going  her  nightly 
rounds  at  Scutari  hospital — which  she  is  shading 
with  the  other  hand.  There  is  also  a  bust  of  Miss 
Nightingale  in  the  hall,  a  portrait  of  her  brother- 
in-law,  the  late  Sir  Harry  Verney,  for  many  years 
the  Chairman  of  the  Council  of  the  Nightingale 
Fund,  and  a  portrait  of  Mrs.  Wardroper,  the  first 
head  of  the  Nightingale  Home  when  originally 
founded.  There  is  also  a  clock  presented  by  the 
Grand  Duchess  of  Baden,  sister  of  the  late 
Emperor  Frederick  of  Germany,  who  was  a  great 
admirer  of  Miss  Nightingale's  work  and  herself 
an  active  organiser  of  relief  for  the  sick  soldiers 
during  the  Franco-German  War. 

The  dining-hall  leads  into  the  nurses'  sitting- 
room.     Each  nurse  has  her  own  private  room. 

The  number  of  probationers  slightly  varies  from 
year  to  year,  but  is  usually  fifty-two,  and  there  are 
always  more  applicants  than  can  be  entertained. 
They  are  divided  into  Special  probationers,  who  are 
gentlewomen  by  birth  and  education,  daughters 
of  professional  men,  clergymen,  ofHcers,  merchants, 
and  others  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes,  age  from 
twenty-four  to  thirty,  and  Ordinary  probationers. 

The  Special  probationers  are  required  to  be  trained 
to  be  future  heads  of  hospitals,  or  of  departments 


3i8      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

of  hospitals.  They  learn  every  detail  of  a  nurse's 
work,  and  also  the  duties  to  fit  them  for  responsible 
posts  as  matrons,  etc.  The  Ordinary  probationers 
are  trained  to  be  efficient  nurses,  and  after  some 
years'  service  may  obtain  superior  appointments. 

All  nurses  v^ho  have  passed  through  St.  Thomas's 
are  united  by  a  special  tie  to  Miss  Nightingale,  who 
rejoices  in  their  successes,  and  likes  to  hear  from 
time  to  time  of  the  progress  of  their  work  in  the 
various  hospitals  and  institutions  of  which  they 
have  become  heads. 

Mr.  Bonham  Carter,  her  old  and  valued  friend, 
remains  the  secretary  of  the  Nightingale  Fund,  and 
Miss  Hamilton  is  the  matron  of  the  hospital,  and 
has  control  of  the  Nightingale  Home. 

In  the  same  year  (1871)  that  the  new  Nightingale 
Home  and  Training  School  was  opened,  Miss  Night- 
ingale published  a  valuable  work  on  Lying-in 
Hospitals^  and  two  years  later  she  made  a  new 
literary  departure  by  the  publication  in  Frasers 
Magazine  of  two  articles  under  the  heading  *' Notes 
of  Interrogation,"  in  which  she  dealt  with  religious 
doubts  and  problems.  Miss  Nightingale  from  her 
youth  up  has  shown  a  deeply  religious  nature,  and  her 
attempt  to  grapple  with  some  of  the  deep  questions 
of  faith,  as  she  had  thought  them  out  in  the  soHtude 
of  her  sick-room,  merit  thoughtful  consideration. 

Miss  Nightingale    has  lived    so    entirely  for    the 


LATER    YEARS  319 

public  good  that  her  private  family  life  is  almost 
lost  sight  of  But  her  affections  never  ceased  to 
twine  themselves  around  the  homes  of  her  youth. 
After  busy  months  in  London  occupied  in  literary 
work  and  the  furthering  of  various  schemes,  came 
holidays  spent  at  Lea  Hurst  and  Embley  with  her 
parents,  when  she  resumed  her  interest  in  all  the 
old  people,  and  ministered  to  the  wants  of  the  sick 
poor.  Though  no  longer  able  to  lead  an  active 
life  and  visit  amongst  the  people,  she  had  a  system 
of  inquiry  by  which  she  kept  herself  informed 
of  the  wants  and  needs  of  her  poorer  friends.  She 
was  particularly  interested  in  the  young  girls  of  the 
district,  and  liked  to  have  them  come  to  Lea  Hurst 
for  an  afternoon's  enjoyment  as  in  the  days  gone 
by.  It  was  soon  known  in  the  vicinity  of  her 
Derbyshire  or  Hampshire  home  when  "  Miss 
Florence  "  had  arrived. 

In  January,  1874,  Miss  Nightingale  sustained 
the  first  break  in  her  old  liome  life  by  the  death  of 
her  father.  He  passed  peacefully  away  at  Embley 
in  his  eightieth  year  and  was  buried  in  East  Willows 
Churchyard.     His  tomb  bears  the  inscription  : — 

WILLIAM  EDWARD  NIGHTINGALE, 

OF  Embley  in  this  County,  and  of  Lea  Hurst, 
Derbyshire. 
Died  January  ^th,    1874,  in  his  eightieth  year. 
"  And  in  Thy  Light  shall  we  see  Light." — Ps.  xxxvi.  9. 


320      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

After  her  father's  death,  Miss  Nightingale  spent 
much  of  her  time  with  her  widowed  mother  at 
Embley  and  Lea  Hurst,  between  which  residences 
the  winter  and  summer  were  divided  as  in  the  old 
days.  It  was  well  known  that  "  Miss  Florence's  " 
preference  was  for  Lea  Hurst,  and  she  would  linger 
there  some  seasons  until  the  last  golden  leaves  had 
fallen  from  the  beeches  in  her  favourite  "  walk  "  in 
Lea  Woods. 

Some  of  the  old  folks  had  passed  away  and  the 
young  ones  had  setded  in  homes  of  their  own,  but 
no  change  in  the  family  history  of  the  people 
escaped  Miss  Florence.  She  ministered  through 
her  private  almoner  to  the  wants  of  the  sick,  and 
bestowed  her  name  and  blessing  on  many  of  the 
cottage  babes.  By  her  thoughtful  provision  a 
supply  of  fresh,  pure  milk  from  the  dairy  of  Lea 
Hurst  was  daily  sent  to  those  who  were  in  special 
need  of  it.  People  on  the  estate  recall  that  before 
she  left  in  the  autumn  "  Miss  Florence  "  always 
gave  directions  that  a  load  of  holly  and  evergreens 
should  be  cut  from  Lea  Woods  and  sent  to 
the  Nurses'  Hisme  at  St.  Thomas's,  the  District 
Nurses'  Home  in  Bloomsbury  Square,  and  the 
Harley  Street  Home,  for  Christmas  decoration. 

On  February  ist,  1880,  Miss  Nightingale  suifered 
another  loss  in  the  death  of  her  beloved  mother, 
whose  last  years  she  had  so  faithfully  tended  as  far 


LATER    YEARS  321 

as  her  strength  would  allow.  Mrs.  Nightingale,  to 
whose  beautiful  character  and  example  her  famous 
daughter  owes  so  much,  passed  away  at  Embley 
and  was  buried  beside  her  husband  in  East  Willows 
Churchyard.     Her  tomb  bears  the  inscription  : — 

Devoted  to  the  Memory  of  our  Mother, 

FRANCES    NIGHTINGALE, 

Wife  of  William  Edward  Nightingale,  Esq. 
Died  February  1st,   i88o. 
"God  is  Love." — ijohniv.  16. 

"  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  His 
benefits." — Fs.   ciii.  2. 

BY  F.    PARTHENOPE    VERNEY  AND    FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

After  the  death  of  her  mother,  Miss  Nightingale 
still  occasionally  stayed  at  Lea  Hurst  and  Embley, 
which  had  passed  to  her  kinsman,  Mr.  William 
Shore  Nightingale,  and  continued  her  old  interest 
in  the  people  of  the  district.  In  1887  the  members 
of  a  working  men's  club  in  Derbyshire  presented 
Miss  Nightingale  with  a  painting  of  Lea  Hurst, 
a  gift  which  she  received  with  peculiar  pleasure. 
It  was  about  this  time  that  she  paid  her  last  visit 
to  the  loved  home  of  her  childhood. 

Miss  Nightingale's  time  was  now  passed  between 
her  London  house,  10,  South  Street,  Park  Lane, 
and  Claydon,  the  beautiful  home  near  Winslow, 
Buckinghamshire,  of   her  sister,  who    had  in   1859 


322       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

become  the  second  wife  of  Sir  Harry  Verney. 
Sir  Harry  was  the  son  of  Sir  Harry  Calvert, 
Governor  of  Chelsea  Hospital  and  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  Forces.  He  had  been  a  Major  in 
the  army,  and  in  1827  assumed  the  name  of 
Verney.  The  family  of  Verney  had  been  settled  in 
Buckinghamshire  since  the  thirteenth  century.  Sir 
Harry  was  at  various  times  member  of  Parliament 
for  Bedford  and  Buckinghamshire.  He  was  deeply 
interested  in  all  matters  of  army  reform  and  in 
active  sympathy  with  the  schemes  of  his  distinguished 
sister-in-law,  and  acted  as  Chairman  of  the  Nightin- 
gale Fund. 

At  Clay  don  Miss  Nightingale  found  a  beautiful 
and  congenial  holiday  retreat  with  Sir  Harry 
Verney  and  her  beloved  sister,  who,  if  less  prominent 
in  the  public  mind,  shared  her  sister's  sympathies 
with  the  sick  and  suffering,  and  was  much  beloved 
in  Buckinghamshire.  In  the  second  year  of  her 
marriage  (1861)  Lady  Verney  had  laid  the  founda- 
tion stone  of  the  new  Buckinghamshire  Infirmary 
at  Aylesbury,  the  construction  of  which  Miss 
Nightingale  watched  with  great  interest  during  her 
visits  to  Claydon.  Her  bust  adorns  the  entrance 
hall  of  the  infirmary.  During  her  summer  visits  to 
Claydon,  Miss  Nightingale  frequently  gave  garden 
parties  for  the  Sisters  from  St.  Thomas's  Hospital. 

Lady  Verney  died,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness, 


LATER    YEARS  323 

in  1870,  sadly  enough  on  May  12th,  her  sister's 
birthday.  Sir  Harry  Verney  survived  his  wife 
barely  four  years,  and  at  his  death  Claydon  passed 
to  Sir  Edmund  Hope  Verney,  the  son  of  his  first 
marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Admiral  Sir  George 
Johnstone  Hope. 

Sir  Edmund  was  a  gallant  sailor,  who  as  a  young 
lieutenant  had  served  in  the  Crimean  War  and 
received  a  Crimean  medal,  Sebastopol  clasp.  He 
had  again  distinguished  himself  in  the  Indian 
Mutiny,  was  mentioned  in  dispatches,  and  re- 
ceived an  Indian  medal,  Lucknow  clasp.  He  was 
Liberal  M.P.  for  North  Bucks  1885-6  and  1889- 
91,  and  represented  Brixton  on  the  first  London 
County  Council.  Sir  Edmund  married  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Hay-Williams  and  Lady  Sarah, 
daughter  of  the  first  Earl  Amherst,  a  lady  who 
has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  movement  for  higher 
education  in  Wales,  and  served  for  seven  years  on 
a  Welsh  School  Board.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Welsh  University. 
Sir  Edmund  has  estates  in  Anglesey.  Lady  Verney 
is  also  an  active  worker  in  Buckinghamshire  in 
connection  with  education.  She  is  continuing  her 
mother-in-law's  work  of  editing  the  "  Verney 
Memoirs."  Sir  Edmund  is  also  a  man  of  literary 
tastes  and  has  published  several  works.  He  is  a 
collector  of  early  editions  of  the  Bible. 


324      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

In  the  society  of  such  very  congenial  relatives 
as  Sir  Edmund  and  Lady  Verney,  Miss  Nightingale, 
after  her  sister's  death,  continued  to  pass  some 
of  her  time  at  Claydon  until  increasing  infirmity 
made  the  journey  impracticable,  and  she  has  con- 
tinued to  interest  herself  in  the  rural  affairs  of  the 
district.  The  suite  of  apartments  which  Miss 
Nightingale  occupied  at  Claydon  are  preserved  by 
Sir  Edmund  and  Lady  Verney  as  when  she 
occupied  them,  and  are  now  styled  *'  The  Florence 
Nightingale  Rooms."  They  consist  of  a  large, 
charmingly  furnished  sitting-room  with  a  domed 
ceiling,  situated  at  a  corner  of  the  mansion  and  so 
commanding  a  double  view  over  the  grounds,  and 
a  bedroom  and  ante-room.  Miss  Nightingale's 
invalid  couch  still  stands  in  her  favourite  corner  of 
the  sitting-room,  and  beside  it  is  a  large  china  bowl 
which  loving  hands  still  daily  replenish  with  fresh 
flowers,  such  as  our  heroine  loved  to  have  about 
her  when  she  occupied  the  room.  In  the  adjoining 
apartment  stands  Miss  Nightingale's  half-tester 
bedstead  and  old-fashioned  carved  wardrobe  and 
chest  of  drawers.  A  large  settee  is  at  the  foot  of 
the  bed,  and  was  a  favourite  lounge  with  Miss 
Nightingale  during  the  day.  Pictures  and  family 
portraits  hang  on  the  various  walls,  and  to  these 
have  been  added  by  Sir  Edmund  Verney  a  series 
of  interesting   pictures  culled  from   various  sources 


LATER    YEARS  325 

to  illustrate  events  in  Miss  Nightingale*s  work  in 
the  East.  The  rooms  will  doubtless  in  time  form 
an  historic  museum  in  Claydon  House. 

After  her  beloved  sister's  death  Miss  Nightingale 
was  sad  and  despondent^  and  one  detects  the  note 
of  weariness  in  a  letter  which  she  addressed  in  1890 
to  the  Manchester  Police  Court  Mission  for  Lads. 
She  was  anxious  that  more  should  be  done  to  reclaim 
first  offenders  and  save  them  from  the  contami- 
nating influences  of  prison  life.  "  I  have  no  power 
of  following  up  this  subject/'  she  wrote,  "though 
it  has  interested  me  all  my  life.  For  the  last  (nearly) 
forty  years  I  have  been  immersed  in  two  objects, 
and  undertaken  what  might  well  occupy  twenty 
vigorous  young  people,  and  I  am  an  old  and 
overworked  invalid." 

Happily  Miss  Nightingale's  work  was  not  done 
yet.  Two  years  later  (1892)  found  her  at  the  age 
of  seventy-two  starting  a  vigorous  health  crusade 
in  Buckinghamshire  in  particular,  and  in  the  rural 
districts  generally.  The  1890  Act  for  the  Better 
Housing  of  the  Working  Classes  specially  roused 
her  attention  in  a  subject  in  which  she  had  always 
been  interested.  She  had  little  faith  in  Acts  of 
Parliament  reforming  the  habits  of  the  people.  ''  On 
paper,"  she  writes,  *' there  could  not  be  a  more 
perfect  Health  Directory  [than  the  Act]  for  making 
our  sanitary  authorities  and  districts  worthy  of  the 


326      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

name  they  bear.  We  have  powers  and  definitions. 
Everything  is  provided  except  the  two  most  neces- 
sary :  the  money  to  pay  for  and  the  will  to  carry 
out  the  reforms."  If  the  new  Act  were  enforced, 
Miss  Nightingale  was  of  opinion  that  three-fourths 
of  the  rural  districts  in  England  would  be  depopu- 
lated and  "  we  should  have  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  poor  upon  our  hands,  owing  to  the  large  pro- 
portion of  houses  unfit  for  habitation  in  the  rural 
districts." 

In  1892  Miss  Nightingale  addressed  a  stirring 
letter  to  the  Buckinghamshire  County  Council  on  the 
advisability  of  appointing  a  Sanitary  Committee  to 
deal  with  the  health  questions  of  the  district. 
*'  We  must  create  a  public  opinion  which  will 
drive  the  Government,"  she  wrote,  *'  instead  of  the 
Government  having  to  drive  us—- an  enlightened 
public  opinion,  wise  in  principles,  wise  in  details. 
We  hail  the  County  Council  as  being  or  becoming 
one  of  the  strongest  engines  in  our  favour,  at  once 
fathering  and  obeying  the  great  impulse  for  national 
health  against  national  and  local  disease.  For  we 
have  learned  that  we  have  national  health  in  our 
hands — local  sanitation,  national  health.  But  we 
have  to  contend  against  centuries  of  superstition 
and  generations  of  indifference.  Let  the  County 
Council  take  the  lead." 

Miss  Nightingale  believed  that  the  best  method 


LATER    YEARS  327 

for  promoting  sanitary  reform  among  the  people 
was  to  influence  the  women — the  wives  and  mothers 
who  had  control  of  the  domestic  management  of 
the  homes.  Her  next  step  was,  with  the  aid  of 
the  County  Council  Technical  Instruction  Com- 
mittee, to  arrange  for  a  missioner  to  teach  in  the 
rural  districts  of  Buckinghamshire.  She  selected 
three  specially  trained  and  educated  women,  who 
were  not  only  to  give  addresses  in  village  school- 
rooms on  such  matters  as  disinfection,  personal 
cleanliness,  ventilation,  drainage,  whitewashing,  but 
were  to  visit  the  homes  of  the  poor  and  give 
friendly  instruction  and  advice  to  the  women. 

She  knew,  and  respected  the  feeling,  that  an 
Englishman  regards  his  home,  however  humble,  as 
a  castle  into  which  no  one  may  enter  uninvited. 
Miss  Nightingale  had  no  sympathy  with  the  class 
of  "  visiting  ladies "  who  Hft  the  latch  of  a  poor 
person's  cottage  and  walk  in  without  knocking. 
In  launching  her  scheme  of  visitation  she  did  the 
courteous  thing  by  writing  a  circular  letter  to  the 
village  mothers,  asking  them  to  receive  the  mis- 
sioners.      The  letter  runs  : — 

"  Dear  Hard-working   Friends, 

"  I  am  a  hard-working  woman  too.  May 
I  speak  to  you  ?  And  will  you  excuse  me,  though 
not  a  mother  } 


328       LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

^'  You  feel  with  me  that  every  mother  who 
brings  a  child  into  the  world  has  the  duty  laid 
upon  her  of  bringing  up  the  child  in  such  health 
as  will  enable  him  to  do  the  work  of  his  life. 

"  But  though  you  toil  all  day  for  your  children^ 
and  are  so  devoted  to  them,  this  is  not  at  all  an 
easy  task. 

"•  We  should  not  attempt  to  practise  dress- 
making or  any  other  trade  without  any  training  for 
it  ;  but  it  is  generally  impossible  for  a  woman  to 
get  any  teaching  about  the  management  of  health  ; 
yet  health  is  to  be  learnt.  .  .  . 

"  Boys  and  girls  must  grow  up  healthy,  with 
clean  minds,  clean  bodies,  and  clean  skins.  And 
for  this  to  be  possible,  the  air,  the  earth,  and  the 
water  that  they  grow  up  in  and  have  around  them 
must  be  clean.  Fresh  air,  not  bad  air  ;  clean  earth, 
not  foul  earth  ;  pure  water,  not  dirty  water  ;  and 
the  first  teachings  and  impressions  that  they  have 
at  home  must  all  be  pure,  and  gentle,  and  firm. 
It  is  home  that  teaches  the  child,  after  all,  more 
than  any  other  schooling.  A  child  learns  before 
it  is  three  whether  it  shall  obey  its  mother  or 
not ;  and  before  it  is  seven,  wise  men  tell  us  that 
its  character  is  formed. 

"  There  is,  too,  another  thing — orderliness.  We 
know  your  daily  toil  and  love.  May  not  the 
busiest    and    hardest    Hfe    be    somewhat   lightened, 


LATER    YEARS  329 

the  day  mapped  out,  so  that  each  duty  has  the 
same  hours  ?  It  is  worth  while  to  try  to  keep 
the  family  in  health,  to  prevent  the  sorrow,  the 
anxiety,  the  trouble  of  illness  in  the  house,  of 
which  so  much  can  be  prevented. 

"  When  a  child  has  lost  its  health,  how  often 
the  mother  says,  *  Oh,  if  I  had  only  known  !  but 
there  was  no  one  to  tell  me.'  And,  after  all,  it  is 
health  and  not  sickness  that  is  our  natural  state — 
the  state  that  God  intends  for  us.  There  are  more 
people  to  pick  us  up  when  we  fall  than  to  enable 
us  to  stand  upon  our  feet.  God  did  not  intend 
all  mothers  to  be  accompanied  by  doctors,  but  He 
meant  all  children  to  be  cared  for  by  mothers. 
God  bless  your  work  and  labour  of  love. 

"Florence   Nightingale." 

Still  following  up  the  subject  of  rural  sanita- 
tion. Miss  Nightingale  prepared  a  paper  on  "  Rural 
Hygiene  :  Health  Teachings  in  Towns  and  Villages," 
which  was  read  at  the  Conference  of  Women 
Workers  at  Leeds  in  November,  1893.  It  was 
written  in  her  usual  clear  and  incisive  manner,  going 
straight  to  the  root  of  the  matter  and  illustrating 
her  points  with  humorous  illustrations.  '*  What 
can  be  done  for  the  health  of  the  home^'  she  asks, 
*'  without  the  women  of  the  home  ?  .  .  .  Let  not 
England  lag  behind.     It   is    a    truism   to   say    that 


330      LIFE    OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

the  women  who  teach  in  India  must  know  the 
languages,  the  religions,  superstitions,  and  customs 
of  the  women  to  be  taught  in  India.  It  ought  to 
be  a  truism  to  say  the  very  same  for  England." 
Referring  to  the  village  mothers,  she  says,  *'  We 
must  not  talk  to  them,  or  at  them,  but  with  them." 

As  an  instance  of  the  happy-go-lucky  style  in 
which  sick  cottagers  are  occasionally  treated,  Miss 
Nightingale  relates  the  following  amusing  stories  : — 

''A  cottage  mother,  not  so  very  poor,  fell  into 
the  fire  in  a  fit  while  she  was  preparing  breakfast, 
and  was  badly  burnt.  We  sent  for  the  nearest 
doctor,  who  came  at  once,  bringing  his  medicaments 
in  his  gig.  The  husband  ran  for  the  horse-doctor, 
who  did  not  come,  but  sent  an  ointment  for  a  horse. 
The  wise  woman  of  the  village  came  of  her  own 
accord,  and  gave  another  ointment. 

"  *  Well,  Mrs.  Y.,'  said  the  lady  who  sent  for 
the  doctor,  '  and  what  did  you  do  }  ' 

"  *  Well,  you  know,  miss,  I  studied  a  bit,  and 
then  I  mixed  all  three  together,  because  then,  you 
know,  I  was  sure  I  got  the  right  one.' 

"  The  consequences  to  the  poor  woman  may 
be  imagined  ! 

'*  Another  poor  woman,  in  a  different  county, 
took  something  which  had  been  sent  to  her  husband 
for  a  bad  leg,  believing  herself  to  have  fever. 
'  Well,  miss,'  she  said,  *  it  did  me  a  sight  of  good, 


LATER    YEARS  331 

and  look  at  me,  baint  I  quite  peart  ? '  The  *  peartness  ' 
ended  in  fever." 

The  manners  of  the  women  to  their  children  in 
many  cases  are  greatly  in  need  of  reform,  and  Miss 
Nightingale  quotes  the  injunction  of  an  affectionate 
mother  to  her  child  about  going  to  school,  "  I'll 
bang  your  brains  out  if  you  don't  do  it  volun tally.'' 

Miss  Nightingale  deals  in  her  paper  with  the 
need  for  drastic  measures  to  promote  rural  sanitation 
such  as  drainage,  proper  water  supply,  scavenging, 
removal  of  dust  and  manure  heaps  from  close 
proximity  to  the  houses,  and  the  inspection  of 
dairies  and  cowsheds.  In  regard  to  the  latter  she 
writes,  "  No  inspection  exists  worthy  of  the  name." 
This  was  in  1893,  and  the  alarming  facts  about  the 
non-inspection  of  rural  milk  supplies  exposed  in 
The  Daily  Chronicle  in  1904  show  that  matters  are 
little  improved  since  Miss  Nightingale  laid  an 
unerring  finger  on  the  defect  eleven  years  ago. 

In  addition  to  an  independent  medical  officer 
and  sanitary  inspector  under  him,  "  we  want," 
said  Miss  Nightingale,  "a  fully  trained  nurse  for 
every  district  and  a  health  missioner,"  and  she 
defines  her  idea  of  the  duties  of  a  missioner.  These 
women  must  of  course  be  highly  qualified  for  their 
work.  They  should  visit  the  homes  of  the  people 
to  advocate  rules  of  health.  Persuade  the  careful 
housewife,   who    is  afraid  of  dirt  falling  on  to  her 


332       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

clean  grate,  to  remove  the  sack  stuffed  up  the 
unused  chimney,  teach  the  cottagers  to  open  their 
windows  in  the  most  effective  way  for  free  ventila- 
tion. ''It  is  far  more  difficult  to  get  people  to 
avoid  poisoned  air  than  poisoned  water,"  says 
Miss  Nightingale,  ''  for  they  drink  in  poisoned  air 
all  night  in  their  bedrooms."  The  mothers  should 
be  taught  the  value  of  a  daily  bath,  the  way  to 
select  nourishing  food  for  their  famihes,  what  to 
do  till  the  doctor  comes  and  after  he  has  left. 

However,  the  first  great  step  for  the  missioner 
is  to  get  the  trust  and  friendship  of  the  women. 
And  this  "  is  not  made  by  lecturing  upon  bed- 
rooms, sculleries,  sties,  and  wells  in  general,  but 
by  examination  of  particular  rooms,  etc."  The 
missioner,  above  all,  must  not  appear  to  ''  pry " 
into  the  homes,  or  to  talk  down  to  the  women, 
neither  should  she  give  alms.  The  whole  object  of 
the  recommendations  was  to  teach  people  how  to 
avoid  sickness  and  poverty. 

Miss  Nightingale's  efforts  to  promote  sanitary 
reforms  were  not  confined  to  our  own  land,  but 
extended  to  far-away  India,  a  country  in  which 
she  has,  as  we  have  already  seen,  taken  a  great 
interest.  She  had  watched  the  success  of  some  of 
the  sanitary  schemes  carried  out  by  the  munici- 
palities of  large  towns  of  India  with  satisfaction,  but 
there   yet   remained  the   vast  rural   population   for 


LATER    YEARS  333 

which  little  was  done,  a  very  serious  matter  indeed 
when  we  consider  that  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  two 
hundred  and  forty  millions  of  India  dwell  in  small 
rural  villages.  Miss  Nightingale  prepared  one  of 
her  "  searchlight  "  papers  on  "  Village  Sanitation  in 
India,"  which  was  read  before  the  Tropical  Section 
of  the  eighth  International  Congress  of  Hygiene 
and  Demography,  held  at  Buda  Pesth  in  September, 

1894. 

In    this  she  considers  the  condition  of  the  rural 
provinces    of  India  from    facts    obtained  by   corre- 
spondence   with    people    of  authority  on    the  spot, 
and  deals  with  the  defective  sewage,  water  supply, 
and     the    difficulties    arising    from    the    insanitary 
habits  of  the    people  and    their  attachment  to  old 
customs.     *' Still,"   she  pleads,  "with  a  gentle  and 
affectionate    people    like    the    Hindoos    much    may 
be  accomplished  by  personal  influence.     1  can  give 
a  striking  instance  within  my  own  knowledge.     In 
the  Bombay   Presidency  there  was  a  village  which 
had    for    long    years    been    decimated    by    cholera. 
The    Government     had    in    vain    been    trying    to 
'move'  the  village.     'No,'  they  said,  'they  would 
not    go  ;    they    had  been    there    since  the    time    of 
the    Mahrattas  :    it    was    a    sacred  spot,    and    they 
would  not  move  now.' 

"  At  last,  not   long  ago,  a  sanitary  commissioner 
— dead  now  alas  ! — who  by  wise  sympathy,  practical 


334      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

knowledge  and  skill  had  conquered  the  confidence 
of  the  people,  went  to  the  Panchayat,  explained 
to  them  the  case,  and  urged  them  to  move  to  a 
spot  which  he  pointed  out  to  them  as  safe  and 
accessible.  By  the  very  next  morning  it  had  all 
been  settled  as  he  advised. 

"  The  Government  of  India  is  very  powerful,  and 
great  things  may  be  accomplished  by  official  authority, 
but  in  such  delicate  matters  affecting  the  homes  and 
customs  of  a  very  conservative  people  almost  more 
may  be  done  by  personal  influence  exercised  with 
kindly  sympathy  and  respect  for  the  prejudices  of 
others.*' 

The  celebration  of  Queen  Victoria's  Diamond 
Jubilee  in  1897  was  an  occasion  of  great  interest 
to  Miss  Nightingale,  and  in  her  sick-room  she 
followed  all  the  events  of  that  joyous  time  with 
keen  appreciation.  She  was  delighted  at  the  idea 
of  making  a  special  feature  of  '*  Nursing  "  in  the 
Women's  Section  of  the  Victorian  Era  Exhibition, 
and  sent  her  Crimean  carriage  as  an  exhibit.  All 
visitors  to  Earl's  Court  will  recall  the  throngs  of 
sight-seers  who  stood  all  day  long  peering  into  the 
recesses  of  the  old  vehicle  as  eagerly  as  though 
they  expected  to  still  find  some  remnant  of  the 
wounded.  There  was  no  more  popular  exhibit  on 
view,  while  the  smiling  nurses  in  their  becoming 
uniforms   who    flitted    about    the    Nursing    Section 


LATER    YEARS  335 

were  a  living  testimony  to  the  revolution  in  the 
art  of  nursing  which  Florence  Nightingale  had 
effected.  Lady  George  Hamilton,  who  had  charge 
of  this  section,  was  in  frequent  consultation  with 
Miss  Nightingale  while  preparations  were  going 
forward. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  celebrations  of  the 
Diamond  Jubilee  year  was  the  dinner  of  the 
Balaclava  Society  on  the  anniversary  of  the  famous 

SPECIMEN    OF   MISS   NIGHl  INC. ALE'S   HANDWRITING. 

"Charge,"  October  25th.  After  the  loyal  toasts, 
the  health  of  Miss  Nightingale  was  proposed  by 
Mr.  F.  H.  Roberts,  who  amid  ringing  cheers  said, 
*'  Her  name  will  live  in  the  annals  of  England's 
regiments  as  long  as  England  lasts."  The  company 
numbered  one  hundred  and  twenty,  of  whom  sixty 
were  survivors  of  the  Charge. 

Miss  Nightingale   has   always    continued    to  take 
a  personal  interest  in  the  Home  for  Sick  Ladles  at 


336      LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

Harley  Street,  where  she  worked  so  assiduously 
before  going  to  the  Crimea. 

This  most  useful  institution  continues  its  efforts 
for  the  relief  of  sick  ladies  with  unabated  vigour, 
under  the  able  Lady  Superintendent,  Miss  Tidy, 
who  has  laboured  at  her  post  now  for  fourteen 
years.  The  home  looks  so  bright  and  cheerful 
that  it  must  have  a  very  beneficial  effect  on  the 
minds  of  those  suffering  women  who  seek  its 
shelter.  In  the  pretty  reception-room  stands  the 
old-fashioned  mahogany  escritoire  which  Miss 
Nightingale  used  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  when 
she  voluntarily  performed  the  drudgery  of  super- 
intending the  home.  It  was  at  this  house  in 
Harley  Street  that  she  stayed  while  organising  her 
nursing  band  for  the  Crimea,  and  from  it  she  set 
forth  for  her  journey  to  the  East. 

In  April,  1902,  the  present  Lady  Verney  laid  the 
foundation  stone  of  a  new  public  library  and  village 
hall  at  Steeple  Clay  don.  The  cost  of  ^1,500  was 
defrayed  by  Sir  Edmund  Verney.  Miss  Nightingale 
was  much  interested  in  the  project  and  sent  the 
following  message  to  Sir  Edmund  and  Lady 
Verney  : — 

"  So  glad  the  foundation  stone  is  being  laid 
of  the  Steeple  Claydon  Public  Library.  I  do  with 
all  my    heart   wish   it   success,    and  think    a  public 


LATER    YEARS  337 

library  is    good   for    body  and    soul.     That  God's 
blessing  may  rest  upon  it  is  the  fervent  wish  of 
"Florence  Nightingale." 

The  institution  of  the  Royal  Pension  Fund  for 
Nurses,  in  which  Queen  Alexandra  has  taken  such 
an  active  interest,  was  a  subject  of  satisfaction  to 
Miss  Nightingale,  as  helping  to  improve  the  position 
of  the  sisterhood  which  she  has  so  much  at  heart. 
She  was  deeply  interested  in  hearing  accounts  of 
the  garden-parties  given  by  the  Queen,  as  Princess 
of  Wales,  to  the  nurses  in  the  grounds  of  Marl- 
borough House,  and  also  of  the  reception  of  the 
nurses  by  the  Queen  after  the    King's  accession. 


93 


CHAPTER   XXV 

AT  EVENTIDE 

Miss  Nightingale  to-day — Her  Interest  in  Passing  Events — Recent 
Letter  to  Derbyshire  Nurses — Celebrates  Eighty-fourth  Birthday 
— King  confers  Dignity  of  a  Lady  of  Grace — Summary  of  her 
Noble  Life. 

The  golden  evening  brightens  in  the  west ; 
Soon,  soon  to  faithful  warriors  comes  their  rest. 

Dr.  Walsham  How. 

THE  shadows  of  evening  have  fallen  about  the 
life  of  our  revered  heroine.  Miss  Nightingale 
has  not  left  her  London  house  for  nine  years,  and 
is  entirely  confined  to  bed.  Her  mind  remains 
unclouded,  and  she  follows  with  something  of  the 
old  eager  spirit  the  events  of  the  day,  more 
particularly  those  which  relate  to  the  nursing  world. 
She  is  no  longer  able  to  deal  personally  with  her 
correspondence,  all  of  which  passes  through  the 
hands  of  her  secretary.  Nothing  gives  her  greater 
pleasure  than  to  chat  over  past  days  with  her  old 
friends  and  fellow-workers,  and  she  occasionally 
receives  by  invitation  members  of  the  nursing  pro- 

338 


AT  EVENTIDE  339 

fession  who  are  heads  of  institutions  with  which 
her  name  is  connected. 

She  followed  with  intense  interest  the  elaborate 
preparations  made  for  dealing  with  the  sick  and 
wounded  in  the  South  African  War,  bringing  home 
to  her  as  it  so  vividly  did  the  difficulties  of  the 
pioneer  work  at  the  time  of  the  Crimean  cam- 
paign. It  gave  her  peculiar  pleasure  to  receive 
and  bid  God-speed  to  some  of  the  nurses  before 
their  departure  for  South  Africa. 

Even  at  eighty-four  Miss  Nightingale  retains 
the  distinction  of  manner  and  speech  which  gave 
her  such  influence  in  the  past,  and  now  and  again 
a  flash  of  the  old  shrewd  wit  breaks  out  when  views 
with  which  she  is  not  in  agreement  are  advanced. 
Her  friends  marvel  most  at  the  almost  youthful 
roundness  and  placidity  of  her  face.  Time  has 
scarcely  printed  a  line  on  her  brow,  or  a  wrinkle 
on  her  cheeks,  or  clouded  the  clearness  of  her 
penetrating  eyes,  which  is  the  more  remarkable 
when  it  is  remembered  that  she  has  been  a  suffering 
and  over-worked  invalid  ever  since  her  return  from 
the  Crimea.  The  dainty  lace  cap  falling  over  the 
silver  hair  in  long  lapels  gives  a  charming  frame 
to  Miss  Nightingale's  face  which  is  singularly 
beautiful  in  old  age.  When  receiving  a  visitor, 
she  seems,  as  one  phrased  it,  "  to  talk  with  her 
hands,"    which    retain   their   beautiful    shape,    and 


340       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

which  she  has  a  habit  of  moving  over  the  coverlet, 
as  from  a  sitting  posture  she  inclines  towards  her 
friends  in  the  course  of  conversation, 

A  delightful  trait  in  Miss  Nightingale's  character 
is  the  honour  which  she  pays  to  the  women  of  a 
younger  generation,  who  are  now  bearing  the  heat 
and  burden  of  the  day.  "  Will  you  give  me  your 
blessing  ?  "  said  the  Superintendent  of  a  benevolent 
institution  to  her  recently,  when  taking  her  leave. 
^'  And  you  must  give  me  your  blessing,"  replied 
Miss  Nightingale,  as  she  took  her  hand.  On 
another  occasion  she  said  to  the  same  lady,  after 
listening  to  an  account  of  good  work  going 
successfully  forward,  "  Why,  you  have  put  new 
life  into  me." 

No  subject  interests  Miss  Nightingale  more  to-day 
than  that  of  district  nursing.  She  inquires  minutely 
into  the  experiences  of  those  engaged  amongst  the 
sick  poor.  "  Are  the  people  improving  in  their 
habits  }'''  is  a  question  she  often  asks,  or  again, 
"  Tell  me  about  these  model  dwellings,  which  they 
are  putting  up  everywhere.  Have  they  had  a  good 
effect  on  the  personal  habits  of  the  people  ? "  If 
a  Sister  chances  to  mention  some  new  invalid 
appliance,  the  old  keen  interest  comes  to  the 
surface  and  Miss  Nightingale  will  have  it  all 
explained  to  her,  even  to  the  place  where  the 
apparatus  was  procured. 


AT  EVENTIDE  341 

The  popularity  of  nursing  as  a  profession  is 
another  topic  of  great  interest  to  Miss  Nightingale, 
and  when  she  hears  of  more  applications  to  enter 
the  Training  Home  at  St.  Thomas's  than  the 
Council  can  entertain,  she  recalls  the  very  different 
state  of  things  when  she  used  in  the  early  days 
to  issue  her  urgent  call  for  recruits.  While  she 
is  particularly  anxious  that  a  high  standard  of 
character  and  efficiency  should  be  maintained 
amongst  nurses,  she  keeps  strictly  to  her  original 
attitude  that  "  a  nurse  should  be  a  nurse  and  not 
a  medical  women."  Miss  Nightingale  feels  that 
ability  to  pass  a  technical  examination  does  not 
necessarily  prove  that  a  woman  will  make  a  good 
nurse.  It  is  a  profession  in  which  natural  aptitude 
and  personal  character  count  for  a  great  deal ;  to 
use  a  familiar  axiom,  a  nurse  is  ''  born,  not  made." 

Often  Miss  Nightingale's  mind  travels  back  to 
her  old  Derbyshire  home.  Embley  has  passed 
out  of  the  family,  but  Lea  Hurst  is  occupied 
by  a  relative,  Mrs.  William  Shore  Nightingale, 
and  Miss  Nightingale  keeps  up  her  interest 
in  the  old  people  of  the  place.  In  August, 
1903,  the  Hon.  Frederick  Strutt,  the  Mayor  of 
Derby  and  a  distant  cousin  of  Miss  Nightingale's, 
entertained  the  nurses  of  the  borough  at  Lea 
Hurst,  which  was  specially  lent  for  the  occasion, 
and  Miss  Nightingale,  hearing  of  what  was  about 


342       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

to  take  place,  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Mr. 
Strutt  :  "  Will  you,"  she  said,  ''  express  to  each 
and  to  all  of  them  my  very  warmest  wishes  for  their 
very  highest  success,  in  the  best  meaning  of  the 
word,  in  the  Hfe's  work  which  they  have  chosen. 
We  hear  a  great  deal  nowadays  about  nursing  as  a 
profession,  but  the  question  for  each  nurse  is,  '  Am 
I  living  up  to  my  profession  } '  The  nurse's  life 
is  above  all  a  moral  and  practical  life — a  life  not 
of  show,  but  of  practical  action.  I  wish  the  nurses 
God-speed  in  their  work,  and  may  each  one  strive 
with  the  best  that  is  in  her  to  act  up  to  her  pro- 
fession, and  to  rise  continually  to  a  higher  level  of 
thought  and  practice,  character  and  dutifulness." 

The  reading  of  this  letter  from  Miss  Nightingale 
to  the  nurses  assembled  in  the  garden  of  her  old  home 
was  an  occasion  of  impressive  interest.  Fifty  years 
ago  she  would  not  have  predicted  that  Derby  would 
ever  possess  such  a  large  body  of  nurses,  and  still 
less  that  the  members  of  the  profession  in  Great 
Britain  should  have  reached  such  a  large  total. 

Oh,  small  beginnings,  ye  are  great  and  strong, 
Based  on  a  faithful  heart  and  weariless  brain  ! 

Ye  build  the  future  fair,  ye  conquer  wrong, 
Ye  earn  the  crown,  and  wear  it  not  in  vain. 

So  far  as  her  own  personality  is  concerned,  the 
founder  of  this  sisterhood  of  ministry  is  "  a  veiled 
and  silent  woman,"  shunning  publicity.     Her  name 


AT  EVENTIDE  343 

has  circled  the  globe,  her  deeds  are  known  in  every 
clime,  and  people  cite  her  noble  heroism  without 
even  knowing  that  she  still  lives,  at  such  pains 
has  Miss  Nightingale  been  to  keep  herself  in  strict 
seclusion.  The  power  of  her  fame,  the  brilliance 
of  her  example,  and  the  wisdom  of  her  counsels  are 
a  national  heritage.  Women  who  now  wear  the 
garb  of  a  nurse  with  honour  and  dignity  owe  it 
to  the  lofty  tradition  which  has  come  down  with 
the  first  of  the  gracious  dynasty. 

Last  May  (1904)  Miss  Nightingale  was  the 
recipient  of  many  congratulations  from  her  friends 
on  the  attainment  of  her  eighty-fourth  birthday,  and 
the  King  paid  a  graceful  compliment  to  the  lady 
who  is  without  doubt  the  most  illustrious  heroine  in 
His  Majesty's  Empire,  by  conferring  upon  her  the 
dignity  of  a  Lady  of  Grace  of  the  Order  of  St. 
John  of  Jerusalem.  Miss  Nightingale  received  the 
Red  Cross  from  Queen  Victoria. 

We  honour  the  soldier  and  applaud  the  valiant 
hero,  but  it  required  a  more  indomitable  spirit,  a 
higher  courage,  to  purge  the  pestilential  hospital 
of  Scutari  ;  to  walk  hour  after  hour  its  miles  of 
fetid  corridors  crowded  with  suffering,  even  agonised, 
humanity,  than  in  the  heat  of  battle  to  go  *'  down 
into  the  jaws  of  death,"  as  did  the  noble  "  Six 
Hundred."  A  grateful  nation  laid  its  offering 
at   the    feet   of  the    heroine   of  the  Crimea,    poets 


344       LIFE   OF  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE 

wafted  her  fame  abroad,  and  the  poor  and  suffering 
loved  her.  In  barracks,  in  hospital,  and  in  camp 
the  soldier  has  cause  to  bless  her  name  for  the 
comfort  he  enjoys,  the  sufferers  in  our  hospital  wards 
have  trained  nurses  through  her  initiative,  the  sick 
poor  are  cared  for  in  their  own  homes,  and  the 
paupers  humanely  tended  in  the  workhouse,  as 
a  direct  result  of  reforms  which  her  example 
or  counsel  prompted.  No  honour  or  title  could 
make  the  name  of  Florence  Nightingale  more 
peerless  :  it  is  ennobled  by  virtue  of  her  deeds. 


FINIS. 


Printed  by  Hazell,   Watson  (P  Viney,  £(/.,  London  and  Aylesbury,  England, 


ieii, 


itmHUHiiiiti 


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